On 3rd November 1979, Sunderland secured an important home victory over promotion rivals Chelsea. October had seen a mixed run of results in the Second Division for Ken Knighton’s side, with two wins and three defeats. After a weekend that saw the Lads take the two points away at Leicester, followed by a tough midweek League Cup draw at home to West Ham, this game turned out to be another battle.
Chelsea arrived having had a week off and sitting in third place, with Sunderland only three places and two points behind, in sixth.
England legend Geoff Hurst was managing the Blues, having been assistant to Danny Blanchflower before taking over from him. Blanchflower had left in September following a poor previous season and a record of only five wins from his 32 games in charge. An idealist, he wanted to play attacking, pretty football but had inherited a squad that was underfunded and had struggled against relegation.
Hurst succeeded him after only five games of the season had gone, with Chelsea in eleventh place. Having steadied the ship, he had got them back into form and up the table by the time they travelled to Roker Park.
> _**Sunderland**: Barry Siddall, Steve Whitworth, Joe Bolton, Jeff Clarke, Shaun Elliott, Rob Hindmarch, Kevin Arnott, Tom Gilbert, Alan Brown, Bryan Robson, Barry Dunn. **SUB:** Gary Rowell_
In front of 24,988, an early free-kick gave the Lads a chance to make a breakthrough, but a Dunn strike hit the wall. The ball bounced up to Whitworth, who headed it under challenge and was awarded an indirect free-kick for a high boot. Not something we’d see these days - a foul is a foul now, and a penalty would be awarded.
The kick was taken and touched off to Arnott, who hit the defenders on the line from seven yards. The ball was cleared after a scramble.
On 28 minutes, Chelsea took the lead as a free-kick from just inside our half was launched up into the box. Siddall looked to have time and was favourite to claim the ball, but somehow didn’t get there to catch it and was beaten in the air by Gary Johnson. He headed over Siddall and into the empty net.
The lead didn’t last and, on 37 minutes, Arnott struck to level the scores. The finish itself was a simple tap-in, but the build-up was all Dunn. A jinking run around the outside into the left corner of the box, followed by a deft chip to the far post to find Arnott all on his own, right on the goal line.
Barry Dunn had been playing for Blue Star in the Wearside League until the summer, when he had impressed boss Knighton in a friendly. At 26 years old, a British Gas fitter by trade, he was offered a professional contract at Sunderland and had packed his job in. In fact, he only played 47 games during a career spanning just four years across three clubs. After Sunderland, there was Preston North End and then on to Darlington.
At half-time, with the scores level at 1-1, Knighton withdrew “Pop” Robson and brought on Gary Rowell.
Not long into the second half, on 56 minutes, what can only be described as “a hoof” up the line by Whitworth caught the Chelsea defence napping. Ron Harris had himself “hoofed” out a clearance and, as the Chelsea back line pushed up, Rowell and Gilbert managed to get in behind. Gilbert made his way into the box, Rowell found him with a great ball and Gilbert lashed it home into the roof of the net.
Chelsea had a good chance to equalise when a scuffed clearance from Gilbert fell to Ian Britton. His cross into the box was met by a Johnson header, and Siddall did superbly to save with his legs.
Chelsea brought on future Red and White Clive Walker on 70 minutes. With plenty of time left, Sunderland carved out a few decent chances to increase their lead. Most notably, late on, Sunderland were awarded a corner on the right. The ball was curled into the box by Dunn, and Peter Borota made a superb save. The shot came back out to Hindmarch, who fired goalwards, only to see it headed off the line by Graham Wilkins, saving a certain goal.
The game finished 2-1. Even this early in the season, it was looking like a tight league, and so it turned out. Sunderland were promoted as runners-up, with Chelsea missing out on third place on goal difference, only a point behind the Lads.
Truly a six (four, actually) pointer!