If you were looking for swashbuckling, successful football, then going to watch Alan Durban’s Sunderland in November 1982 was not the place to be. To be fair to Durban, the manager had a serious job on his hands changing the fortunes of a team that wasn’t far from relegation in Division One the previous season.
The 82-83 season had started well with early wins against Aston Villa and West Ham, offering signs of hope for a cash-strapped Sunderland. Tom Cowie’s lack of funds saw the team go from signing players like Ally McCoist for big money to Ian Atkins for only £30,000 from Shrewsbury Town.
As the season progressed, Sunderland’s form went in the opposite direction and by the time Luton Town had arrived on Wearside on this day, the team were languishing in the bottom three after a winless September was followed by a poor - yet slightly better - October.
Truthfully, this game against Luton Town was nothing short of abysmal in terms of football quality, with newspaper reports writing about how disjointed the Sunderland side was, particularly Stan Cummins, who had returned to the team after a nine-game lay-off, with rumours swirling about his future at the club.
In addition to Cummins, _The Mail Newspaper_ cited the struggles of Barry Vennison and Jimmy Nicholl as a key reason for the team’s struggles throughout the first half, stating that they ‘_could never find their men_’.
Despite the struggles, the newspaper states that Durban’s men easily could have had a first-half penalty as Cummins was tripped up by Billy Kellock, only for the referee to wave it away despite the linesman raising his flag.
Anger inside Roker Park increased in the second half as the home crowd were incensed that another foul on Cummins was waved away after a decent chance for Shaun Elliott inside the Luton box. Sunderland continued to pressure without really ever posing a serious threat, and this left them open to being caught out at the other end, which ultimately happened in the 78th minute when David Moss found himself one-on-one with Chris Turner to finish from close range.
Pressure was on Durban to ensure his team got at least a point from this game, and with just three minutes left, the pressure finally told.
“_As Nicholl’s corner was headed out, Atkins beat Turner with a header and though a Luton player headed clear the linesman signalled that the ball had crossed the line_”
Relief was palpable among the nearly 15,000 fans inside the ground, and whilst three points surely were the target before the game, a point was not a bad result given how things panned out for a beleaguered Sunderland outfit.