On This Day (12th March 1966): O'Hare bags & rose-tinted specs — Kelvin's SAFC love affair begins!

Yesterday at 02:00 AM

It was my very first game at Roker Park, my memories of this game compared to media reports from the day suggest I may have had my rose tinted specs on!

Blackpool were the visitors for this top-division clash on this day in 1966. The World Cup was on its way to Roker Park, and the old stadium was looking grand, with the new roof on the Fulwell End, the "Boys Enclosure" in the Roker End, and a lick of paint in all the right places.

As a young fan at the time, my head was totally consumed with World Cup football — Pele, Eusebio, Bobby Moore, and Charlton. But I was especially fascinated with the USSR goalkeeper Lev Yashin, nicknamed The Black Spider and said to be the best goalie ever! USSR were one of the teams set to play qualifying rounds at Roker Park, and when I was offered the opportunity to go and see a game there, I jumped at the chance, little realising I was about to set in motion a lifetime's infatuation and a rollercoaster ride that is still running to this day.

Blackpool, like Sunderland, were not having the best of seasons. They boasted six players with full international experience in their team for this fixture, including former England players — goalkeeper Tony Waiters, full-back Jimmy Armfield, and centre-forward Ray Charnley. In their midfield, the burgeoning talent of Alan Ball (who would go on that summer to play such a crucial role in England's World Cup campaign) would light up the Roker paddock that afternoon, easily Blackpool's best player on the day.

Sunderland arrived at this fixture without a win in six games, having lost five on the trot, the most recent of which had been a two-nil defeat at Newcastle where not only the result, but the performance had been very disappointing.

Young John O'Hare replaced fellow Scot Nic Sharkey, and George Herd's return from injury saw Neil Martin also dropped from the attack. Dave Elliott was also dropped in favour of the returning Jim McNab, but in a surprise positional shift, it would be Jim Baxter who played in his preferred left-half berth and McNab who pushed up to inside-left.

There was a strong wind blowing in the face of the Sunderland team as kick-off approached, and a crowd of well over twenty-five thousand in the stadium.

I had been half dragged/shoved by the older lads charged with my care, through the turnstile and up the steps to the Boys Enclosure, which would soon become my matchday home for nigh on three seasons. The high jinks and laughter, as well as the absence in general of any adult, was both strange and a little giddying to me as I breathed in my new surroundings.

My attention was abruptly refocused as the loudest man-made noise I had ever heard up to that point in my life both scared and thrilled me in equal measure. The Roker Roar burst forth from the crowd as kick-off approached, and time took on a different dimension for me as I lost myself in the beautiful game being played out before my very eyes.

Charles Close in the Sunday Sun the next day wrote of the first half, "the Roker attack had about as much menace as a pack of Brownies"; he also commented on the "roasting" Jim Baxter was getting from a section of the Roker crowd in the first half.

I was not aware of this as, right from the off, Baxter captivated me with his gallous strutting and balletic movement on the ball. I was also excited to join in the "Charlie, Charlie" chant every time the dark-haired giant moved forward from centre-half.

As the half wore on, other players caught my attention, Jimmy Montgomery being one, whom I swear to you winked and waved at me as he took his position between the posts. Also, I noticed a player who would become my unsung hero for a number of seasons as he tackled, covered, and ran; his passing was so good he nearly always found his own player as he turned defence into attack. His name was Martin Harvey, and he was in essence my first football anti-hero.

Charles Close was perhaps a tad harsh on the Sunderland attack in the first half. Playing in the face of a very stiff wind (which I also have no memory of), Len Ashurst had a shot in the first ten minutes that Waiters in the Blackpool goal did well to block. On thirty-five minutes, Jim Baxter found John O'Hare with a beautiful pass, from which the young forward forced a corner. Alan Gauden sent his cross straight to the head of Charlie Hurley, who planted the ball past Waiters, only for Stockton-born Tommy Thompson to clear the attempt off the line.

Two minutes later, a John Parke free kick was met in the air again by Hurley, who powered the ball goalwards. This time it was Jimmy Armfield who chested the ball off the line and out for a corner.

Throughout the first half, I had noticed a small red-headed buzz-bomb getting Blackpool going forwards and drawing generous applause and praise from the Roker crowd. The next time I would notice Alan Ball, he would be playing for England at Wembley in the World Cup final.

Despite the lack of goals, I had been enthralled and captivated by what I had seen.

The second half recommenced with Sunderland attacking with the wind, and Baxter quickly stamped his mark on the game. Just over the hour, he slid a beautiful pass to the lively George Herd on the right. Herd galloped into space and was looking like getting away from his marker (Welsh international defender Glyn James) when he was brutally hacked to the ground.

Baxter struck the kick left-footed between two defenders to Jim McNab, who glanced it with his head to 19-year-old John O'Hare at the far post. The young Scot adjusted his body position and slammed the ball in from close range, igniting the crowd and myself as I witnessed my first-ever goal at Roker Park.

Having waited over an hour for the first goal, three were scored in less than eight minutes.

The applause from the first goal had hardly died down when Len Ashurst clashed with Ball on the left touchline. Unusually, it was Lenny who was in a heap on the red ash track.

The trainer grabbed his bucket and sponge and sprinted to the motionless full-back. In the meantime, the referee signalled play to resume, and Ball wasted no time in slipping the ball to Green, who in turn found Oates on the left wing. He slipped the ball past Parke and shot accurately across Monty, burying the ball in the corner of the net, with Ashurst still receiving treatment!

It was a setback, but Baxter and Hurley soon had the game by the scruff of the neck again.

Blackpool, very soon after their goal, conceded another free kick (one of 21 conceded all game) in a risky position.

This time, Baxter nonchalantly chipped the ball to Hurley, who was charging into the right-hand corner of the box. The big Irishman bent almost double, meeting the ball powerfully with his head and once again sending it goalwards. Waiters got a great hand to the ball but could only deflect it in John O'Hare's direction, who repeated his body adjustment and caught the ball nicely to smash it in the net from close range.

Once more, Roker Park erupted, and it was bedlam in the Boys Enclosure, to my utter delight.

But wait, more drama! In our excitement, we had missed our own big giant smashing into the post after heading the ball. He was now lying motionless and, to me, seemed "spark out". The trainer came flying on with his bucket, and I remember thinking there must be some mighty powerful medicine in there!

With the soaked sponge ravaged all over his face and head (much in the way my dad would wash the car, the only thing missing was soap suds), our Giant stirred, and then rose, trotting elegantly back to his centre-half berth with a wave and a "nowt but a scratch" shrug to the crowd. This was King Charlie Hurley, and his people responded with thunderous applause and chants of "Charlie, Charlie".

Having taken the lead for a second time, Sunderland sensed blood, and a series of exciting attacks ensued. One of these saw Len Ashurst hurtling down the left wing, only for John McPhee to brutally fell him. The foul brought a booking, but he could have very easily been sent off; it was not his first offence in this game!

Shortly after this, Alan Gauden was booked for a gentle trip on Ball.

It struck me as very unfair that both offences, totally different in intensity and intention, had brought the same punishment. For the very first time, I joined in with the booing being aimed at the ref. I would be a very rich man if I had a fiver for every time I have done this since then, and I can categorically tell you, not one referee in all that time has changed his decision because of my "efforts".

My first-ever Sunderland game ended shortly after this, and by the time I had made my way to the car, I knew I was smitten.

Because of results elsewhere, our victory only maintained our 17th position in the table.

For Sunderland, Charlie Hurley was lauded in the media for his "return to majestic form". There were also plaudits for Jim Baxter's second-half performance as well as two-goal John O'Hare.

The young forward was often described as a "player's player". He scored 21 goals in 59 games for Sunderland; given that manager Ian McColl did not seem to favour him (just like Nic Sharkey), it was a credible return. He became one of Brian Clough's first signings when he took over at Derby to trigger their meteoric rise. Whilst with Derby, O'Hare was capped 13 times for Scotland. Clough had coached O'Hare when he was youth team coach at Sunderland and obviously liked the cut of his jib; he brought him to Leeds and then to Forest when he took the reins as boss.

A disappointing season ended with Sunderland in 19th place. Blackpool finished 13th with only one point more.

As for me, 59 years later, I am still coming through the turnstiles, for better or worse, and still retain a bit of that wondrous enthralment that I experienced at my very first game on this day in 1966.

Division One Date - 12.03.1966 Venue - Roker Park Attendance - 26,246

Sunderland 2 - 1 Blackpool

Goal Scorers - O'Hare 63 & 70 mins; Oates 66 mins

Sunderland - Montgomery; Parke; Ashurst; Harvey; Hurley; Baxter; Gauden; Herd; O'Hare; McNab; Mulhall. Sub - G Moore.

Blackpool - Waiters; Armfield; Thompson; Fisher; James; McPhee; Rowe; Ball; Charnley; Green; Oates. Sub - Lea.