I was just a lad in the Boys Enclosure of the Roker End for this game, but I remember distinctly coming out of the ground a different person to the one that went in!
What was different, you might wonder. Well, when I went into the ground, I idolised Slim Jim Baxter. When I came out, I can vividly recall the odd feeling of having moved on.
I had just watched 18-year-old Colin Todd play a superb 90 minutes of football. He had broken up attacks, intercepted and given passes short and long with minimum fuss as he sprang from defence with the ball. He also looked to be in cruise control, no matter who he was running against. He was so quick across the grass! Having spent my earliest years imagining myself as Slim Jim every time I ran out onto the clarty field just through the cut at ‘wor hoose’, I had now “grown up”. It would be “Toddo” I would be imagining and shouting every time I made a tackle or had a shot!
My “conversion” was all the more remarkable looking back on it, as I had been lucky enough to be taken to youth games and knew that Todd was a player to admire long before this cup tie.
Peterborough arrived with selection difficulties. Their first choice centre-half and centre-forward were injured, while Sunderland retained the same team that had played in the very good 2-2 draw at Upton Park the week before.
Colin Todd, Sunderland (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)
Colin Todd, Sunderland (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)
PA Images via Getty Images
The pitch looked like a bowling green, which was astounding given the weather we had experienced. There were upwards of 40,000 in the ground and a good din as kick-off approached.
There was action in both goalmouths in the first minutes of the game as both teams suggested they were going to serve up a good contest. However, Sunderland quickly took control after this and launched a series of raids that threatened to break the deadlock, with O’Hare, Martin, Herd, Kerr and Mulhall all going close.
Approximately 10 minutes in Posh registered an attack with a good cross that was powerfully met by the head of Mason. Monty scrambled across to first stop the ball from crossing the line and then to grab the ball before any opposition players got to it.
It was from this attack that Sunderland grabbed the lead, as Todd found Baxter, who slid in a sharp pass to O’Hare, he connected with the ball about twenty yards out and smashed it past Millington for the first goal of the game.
Less than a minute later, Bobby Kerr and Cecil Irwin exchanged passes down the right-hand side. The Little General took the ball into space and chipped over a cross to the back post, where Neil Martin was lurking with intent. The big Scot rose higher than any other defender and planted the ball past the goalkeeper for goal number two.
Goal number three arrived around five minutes later as Todd intercepted and found Martin with a smashing pass. Martin did not hesitate in getting the ball under control and letting fly with a blistering shot that looked as if it was going in. Bobby Kerr, though, made sure as he followed the shot and toed it into the net.
Memory is a funny thing, because mine tells me we were four goals to the good by half-time, but this goal in most usually reliable sources is timed at forty-seven minutes. (If anybody knows the correct story, please do get in touch or comment on the article.) The goal itself was a cracker as Todd fed Baxter, who caressed another accurate pass to Martin running in. Showing loads of poise, Martin slows as the keeper comes charging out and just rolls the ball past him into the net, cool as you like!
The goal-fest continued with number five coming from more good play between Irwin and Todd, who put the galloping full-back into good space. Cec let fly from 30 yards, the keeper did well to parry the shot, but Neil Martin swooped on the rebound and prodded it into the back of the net for his hat-trick.
Less than three minutes later Bobby Kerr registered his second goal of the game as Baxter and Martin worked an opportunity.
Six goals to the good, what would happen next? I will tell you, Tommy Watson scored (no not our Tommy Watson). This was a very good goal, it is though easier to appreciate an opposition goal when you are six goals to the good!
Watson was found by Johnny Byrne (no not our Johnny Byrne) and he took the ball inside and struck a ferocious shot that Jimmy Montgomery seemed not to see till the last moment.
The goal seemed to stir Peterborough and for a brief period they held sway. With three sorties from the opposition, it took two good saves from Monty and a very good block from Todd to prevent further Posh scores.
The game swung back to Sunderland as Todd intercepted and the ball was played through a number of players to set Martin running into the box. He was floored by an overworked defender for a most obvious penalty.
Up stepped Jim Baxter (there was no thought of letting Bobby Kerr maybe grab his hattrick). To be fair to Slim, he smashed this award top bins, high, hard, unstoppable!
Back row (L to R) James Montgomery Leonard Ashurst, Colin Todd, James Baxter, Robert Kerr and Derek Forster. Center Row (L to R) Heslop, Colin Suggett, Alan Gauden, William Hughes, James Shoulder, Cecil Irwin and Charles Hurley. Front Row (L to R) Martin Harvey, George Kinnell, George Mulhall, John O’Hare, John Parke, George Herd: Neil Martin (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)
Back row (L to R) James Montgomery Leonard Ashurst, Colin Todd, James Baxter, Robert Kerr and Derek Forster. Center Row (L to R) Heslop, Colin Suggett, Alan Gauden, William Hughes, James Shoulder, Cecil Irwin and Charles Hurley. Front Row (L to R) Martin Harvey, George Kinnell, George Mulhall, John O’Hare, John Parke, George Herd: Neil Martin (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)
PA Images via Getty Images
At 7-1 you might have thought that was it, but showing a hitherto unseen ruthless streak Sunderland pushed on for more goals. It is to Peterborough’s credit and maybe a slice or two of luck that no more were scored. O’Hare hit the post, and Millington made two great saves to deny Kerr his hat-trick.
The Sunday Sun’s John Barret was fulsome in his praise of a good team performance from Sunderland, but waxed lyrical about Todd’s contribution, finishing with “if he does not get a game in the England U23 team soon, then there is no justice in football”.
Sunderland went through to the next round and a real belter of a three game tie with Leeds that would live long in the memory for a whole range of reasons but that is another story.
Colin Todd went on to captain Sunderland in a one hundred and ninety-one game career with the Lads. On the same date as the Peterborough tie five years later, he was a record £175,000 transfer to Derby County, whereupon Brian Clough said his team had bought a “bargain” and that he would have paid more!
This transfer almost broke my heart as a young Sunderland fan in 1971. Todd helped Derby to two First Division titles in 1971/72 and 1974/75. He was awarded the PFA’s Player of the Year in 1974/75 and was named in the PFA’s Team of the Year in 1973/74, 74/75 and 75/76. He was also named in the World Xl in 1975 and 1976.
Todd went on to make twenty-seven international appearances for England and at one point was playing alongside Sunderland’s Dave Watson in the heart of the defence. He played over six hundred games, most of which were in the top tier, and went on to be a highly regarded coach and manager.
Colin Todd. Pound for pound, the best player I have seen come up through Sunderland’s youth academy system
FA Cup Round 4. 18/02/1967
Roker Park, 43,998
Sunderland 7 - 1 Peterborough
Goalscorers - O’Hare 13; Martin 14, 27, 47; Kerr 18, 50; Baxter (pen) 74.
Watson 55.
Sunderland: Montgomery; Irwin; Harvey; Todd; Kinnell; Baxter; Kerr; Herd; Martin; O’Hare; Mulhall. Sub - Suggett
Peterborough: Millington; Johnson ( Adams 18mins); Crawford; Cooper; Wright; Kirkham; Watson; Beesley; Mason; Byrne; Conmy.