On This Day (16th April 1966): 'Slim' Jim Baxter in his pomp!
16/04/2025 01:00
Chelsea arrived with several household names in their team and their own "Scottish Stroller" to rival "Slim Jim". Sunderland were mired in the relegation battle; there could only be one outcome!
My second match ever at Roker Park could not come soon enough. Unfortunately, before it arrived, the region was carpeted in Easter snow, and I spent an anxious forty-eight hours fretting about the match being cancelled and missing out on a return to Roker Park, which I had hardly stopped thinking about since my first trip the previous month to see the Blackpool victory.
It was lunchtime before I was definitely told the game was on, and we were going through to Sunderland from my Morpeth home, despite the heavy snow that had fallen all over Northumberland. I was ecstatic, and even allowing for my tender years at the time, I recall giving not one thought to the driver of the car or my worried parents (an oft-repeated theme for my mam and dad as my fixation with the Lads grew)!
Tommy Docherty's Chelsea arrived at Roker Park right in the mix at the top of the table, with Liverpool and Leeds looking favourites, but Manchester United and Burnley in the mix too. Chelsea had a host of players who would become (or already were) household names: Terry Venables and John Hollins, Ron "Chopper" Harris and Eddie McCreadie, Peter Osgood and Bobby Tambling. England international winger Barry Bridges was not in the squad, with Peter Houseman preferred at outside-right.
In goal for Chelsea was Peter Bonetti. There was a view abroad that it was between Bonetti and Jim Montgomery for the back-up goalkeeper's spot in the forthcoming 1966 England World Cup squad. The view north of the Watford Gap was that Monty was the better keeper, but the London bias might hold sway with Alf Ramsey!
Also in the Blues' squad was twenty-two-year-old Scot George "Stroller" Graham, five years younger than Jim Baxter. He was being lauded as Scotland's next strolling magician on the pitch. Graham had started life as a centre-forward and moved back into midfield, where his skill and creative talent had burgeoned under Tommy Docherty in what could be a free-flowing and attack-minded team. The match-up between Graham and Baxter was keenly anticipated; how would "Slim Jim" respond to this young pretender? For those of a younger disposition, George Graham would go on to play for and become a very successful Arsenal manager. (His Scotland international career did not take off until Jim Baxter had retired from football in 1971.)
Sunderland fielded the same twelve that had drawn 2-2 with top-of-the-table Liverpool in a confidence-building team performance in our last home game on Easter Monday (11 April 1966), where Baxter and Neil Martin had shone in front of a packed house. Sunderland and Roker Park appeared to have been spared the worst of the region's snowfall, and they kicked off attacking the Fulwell End, with over 30,000 in the ground making a good noise.
Sunderland were quickly on the attack, and a Baxter pass set up Ashurst for a shot that was blasted over the bar. Eddie McCreadie then burst down his wing (he was one of a growing clutch of raiding full-backs at this time). It came to nothing but served notice of his intentions. Mike Hellawell would need to track back!
George Mulhall then dispossessed Chelsea full-back Kirkup and swung a great forty-yard cross-field pass to George Herd, who slid the ball on to Mike Hellawell flying down his wing. The cross was just dealt with by McCreadie at the front post, but it was a rapid and flowing move that brought good applause from the crowd.
A fine interception by Martin Harvey set Herd away again. He beat Harris all ends up and slid the ball again to Hellawell, whose cross was headed out for a corner, which was eventually cleared. It had been a great, high-intensity start to the game by Sunderland.
Jim Baxter kept the start going with an exquisite side-step of Terry Venables (who almost had to pay to get back in the ground). "Slim" slid a slide-rule pass to Mulhall, who came flying onto the ball but was just tackled as he was about to let rip! Mulhall then made a fantastic run down his wing and into the Chelsea box before laying the ball off to Neil Martin, who shot just wide when well placed. Neil Martin then returned the favour, sending Mulhall slaloming into the area on goal. He got a fair bit of power into his shot but hit it straight at Bonetti, who saved on the line.
Not half an hour gone, and Sunderland were bossing this game but arguably had fluffed their lines in front of goal. Baxter sent Herd away again, heading into the box at pace. "Chopper" Harris felled Herd in a robust challenge, but was it in the box? With no VAR to fall back on, the referee pointed straight to the penalty spot, much to the delight of most of the crowd, but to the great chagrin of the Chelsea players.
Despite the complaints and delay, "Slim Jim" grabbed the ball and stood waiting until the referee was ready. He put the ball on the spot, the crowd hushed, he took a couple of steps back, and then, with all the natural gallusness he possessed, he hammered the ball wide of Bonetti and into the net. Roker Park was his stage this day, and he was here to perform!
Right after the goal, Mike Hellawell took a bit of a swipe at Eddie McCreadie, catching him from behind. The full-back had to be helped from the field and looked in a lot of pain. He tried to resume after a few minutes but broke down straight away and was substituted by Bert Murray on 38 minutes.
Ashurst then made a really good interception and set Mulhall away down his wing. He slid a clever reverse pass to Jim Baxter, who headed for the touchline and fired over a dangerous cross that was just held by Bonetti, with Neil Martin ready to pounce.
Just before the break, Sunderland really should have scored again. Neil Martin gathered a Baxter pass and laid off a cracking ball to Mike Hellawell, once again flying down his wing. He aimed a lovely paced pass to Martin Harvey heading into the box. With space in front of him and the ball well controlled, one of my favourite ever defenders put his shot just past the upright when it was probably easier to score!
We cheered the Lads off the pitch; what a first half we had seen, despite the heavy pitch, with a hatful of chances created but only one goal up!
With Sunderland now attacking the Roker End, I was in prime position in the Boys' Enclosure to witness, right at the start of the second half, a great run and drive from George "Bullet" Mulhall that should have seen us go further ahead. He ran onto a pass from Baxter and went on a mazy run that took him between and past both Kirkup and Hollins. He hit a scorching drive that had us all with arms aloft in anticipation, only for Bonetti to pull off a great one-handed save. It was a glorious bit of football from both players.
Bobby Tambling then injured his thigh in what appeared to be a fairly innocuous coming-together and had to leave the field for treatment. He would not be fit enough to return, and Chelsea would have to see out the game with ten men.
Peter Osgood came into the game with two storming runs in quick succession. The first saw him charge through the middle of the pitch and lay a good pass off to Houseman, primed to shoot. As he went to pull the trigger, John Parke put in a well-timed tackle to avert the danger.
Osgood then repeated the feat and this time looked ready to burst the net himself when Charlie Hurley timed a lovely intervention to slide the ball off his toe. Mulhall then found Baxter, who laid the ball into Ashurst's path. Lenny loved a gallop forward, and this time he found George Herd in space in the box. His first-time snapshot hit the bar and rebounded fortuitously, allowing him to get a header in, which was gratefully grabbed by Bonetti.
Shortly after this, Herd picked up a loose ball and set Hellawell away again. He stepped inside at pace and laid a clever pass off to Neil Martin in loads of space in front of goal. Frustratingly, he had strayed offside, and the chance was gone.
Ashurst then shot high and wide for a second time in the game after being found by Baxter. He could have laid the ball off to Mulhall, who was really well placed, but saw the "goal mist" and stuck his foot through the ball.
Baxter then found Mulhall with a precision pass in front of goal. The flying Scot struck a great shot that once again had us all with arms aloft in anticipation, but the ball smashed off the underside of the bar with Bonetti a spectator.
In a rare Chelsea attack, Houseman laid the ball off to Graham, who turned smartly and lobbed a shot with Monty stranded at the other end of his goal. Nonetheless, he dived, arching his back cat-like, and pulled off a fantastic one-handed save.
George Herd then made it a brace of woodwork shots with an effort that cannoned off the post. Probably the best move of the second half saw Martin Harvey find Baxter with a great pass out of defence. Baxter slid a gorgeous pass to Neil Martin, who squared a well-paced header right into the onrushing Jim McNab's path. The half-back hit a screamer that positively rocketed just over the bar (and our heads in the Boys' Enclosure). It was another lovely passage of flowing football that I can still replay at will in my mind's eye.
There was still just one goal in this contest, and whilst it stayed like this, there was a bit of anxiety given previous games that season. The game was drawing to a close on eighty-seven minutes when Ashurst found Mulhall breaking down his wing. He beat Kirkup and fired a dangerous-looking cross-shot at pace that Bonetti managed to get a hand to. With the ball still travelling at pace, Mike Hellawell flew in and got his head to the rebound, planting the ball into the goal at the far post. The goal prompted some serious limbs in the Boys' Enclosure as the Roker Roar echoed down from all four corners of the ground.
Having bossed the game for Sunderland, we saw another side of Jim Baxter as he was then booked for a petulant foul on Terry Venables. Manager Ian McColl did not waste any time in substituting the player of the match, sending on John O'Hare for the last couple of minutes. Baxter was afforded a rapturous send-off and milked this somewhat as he strutted off the pitch.
The game finished without further incident, and with Sunderland in fifteenth position, our highest position since February. The defeat left Chelsea in fourth position; their season would see them finish in fifth place with Liverpool as champions.
In a tense end to the season, in which we did not win another game until our very last game of the campaign against Everton, we would finish in a very disappointing nineteenth position, just three points above the relegation places.
I remember my second game as very exciting and with a masterclass from Slim Jim Baxter. I will have to bow to the experience of the great Len Shackleton, writing in The People the next day, who said, "Chelsea should have received the mother and father of a good hiding instead of escaping as lightly as they did…" Shack went on to highlight some very poor finishing from Sunderland as the cause of this, particularly in the first half, whilst also acknowledging some flowing football at times from the Lads and the influence of Baxter.
Division One, 16 April 1966, Roker Park, Attendance: 32,880
Sunderland 2 -0 Chelsea
Goalscorers: Baxter (pen, 29 minutes), Hellawell (87 minutes)
Sunderland: Montgomery; Parke; Ashurst; Harvey; Hurley; McNab; Hellawell; Herd; Martin; Baxter (O'Hare, 88 minutes); Mulhall
Chelsea: Bonetti; Kirkup; McCreadie (Murray, 38 minutes); Hollins; Hinton; Harris; Houseman; Graham; Osgood; Venables; Tambling (injured, unable to continue, 46 minutes)
