On This Day (18th September 1965): Bright lights, big hooley!

Yesterday at 01:00 AM

An early autumn trip to Blackpool proved illuminating for Sunderland and an estimated 10,000 Sunderland fans, despite the hooley that blew throughout that weekend!

Sunderland travelled to Bloomfield Road looking for their first away win of the season. Blackpool were no pushovers at home and had battered Sunderland in the corresponding fixture the previous season, 3-1. The Seasiders boasted some solid experience in their squad as well as exciting young talent. Emlyn Hughes and Alan Ball were part of the young talent, Jimmy Armfield and Ray Charnley brought international experience, and Pelton-born Jimmy Robson brought goals and trophy-winning experience from his previous club Burnley - he later worked for Mick Buxton at Huddersfield, becoming reserve team coach.

Jimmy Montgomery retained his place in goal, but the defence saw Northern Ireland international John Parke continue alongside his international colleague Martin Harvey and Jim McNab, owing to the continued absence of the injured Charlie Hurley.

Jim Baxter was positioned at inside forward, and Nic Sharkey continued in the centre forward role, both having scored in previous games. This was the first season a substitute could be used. For Sunderland, nippy winger Billy Campbell took his spot on the bench.

The Northern Irishman had joined the club in September 1964 from Distillery and was mainly a stand-in for Mike Hellawell and Brian Usher. He only played five games before leaving for Dundee (and then on to Motherwell), where goals and international recognition would come his way.

It was blowing a right hooley as the game kicked off. The wind was not favouring any team in particular and most certainly not facilitating silky football. What was served up was a no-nonsense, no-quarter-asked-or-given contest, riddled with body checks and rash tackles. Remarkably, only two players were booked and one penalty awarded; it could easily have doubled, even trebled, with a referee of a more severe ilk than Bill Handley, who tried to let the game flow in difficult conditions.

As early as the ninth minute, two of the more effective players on the day combined to almost break the deadlock. Nic Sharkey fed George Mulhall, who had taken up a promising position with real pace. However, his shot slewed terribly in the wind and endangered the corner flag more than the Blackpool goal!

On 20 minutes, Charnley planted a powerful header right at Jimmy Montgomery, probably the only real effort on the Sunderland goal in the first half.

With Blackpool matching Sunderland's fight and effort, it was going to take something special to break the deadlock in these conditions. On 40 minutes, Mulhall picked the ball up on the right and fed the rapid Hellawell. He sped away and cut back to the advancing Mulhall in the inside-right position. Unusually, Mulhall dallied on the ball, and it was cleared into midfield. McNab controlled and slid an accurate pass back to Mulhall, who danced past a couple of defenders and zoned in on goal. In desperation, fellow Scot Hugh Fisher grabbed a handful of his shirt and swung Mulhall off his feet. VAR would not have been required for this one — subtle it was not. The referee signalled for a penalty.

In today's game, we sometimes refer to players who are 'worky tickets' as shithouses. Had Jim Baxter played today, he would have been king of the shithouses.

Baxter took possession of the ball and stroked the spot-kick nonchalantly past Waiters in the Blackpool goal. The Roker Horde roared their approval, and Baxter, ever the showman, lapped it up.

Blackpool goalkeeper Tony Waiters, who had played a season for Bishop Auckland before commencing his league career, would go on to make his name as a coach with the England Youth team, whom he led to the European Championship in 1973. He led Vancouver Whitecaps to the NASL Championship in 1979, upsetting the famous New York Cosmos on the way. Then he led Canada to the quarter-finals of the Olympics in 1984. In 1985, his team won the CONCACAF Championship, qualifying Canada for the 1986 World Cup. The Blackpool keeper was not amused by Baxter's shithousery and let him know about it in what looked like agricultural language.

The second half resumed with the previously well-contained Ball involved in a couple of good moves that came to nothing. Throughout the game, Blackpool's wingers, Moir and Horne, had troubled Irwin and Ashurst without ever producing any end product. Ball and the previously muted Green combined well in the inside-left position on 56 minutes. It looked like Cecil Irwin had Green cornered to the by-line, but he somehow squeezed a tame shot away that dribbled past Montgomery and in off the post.

It was a bit of a flukey goal and not really deserved on the balance of play, despite Blackpool never being out of the contest.

George Herd, who had worked tirelessly, winning, receiving, and using the ball to set up Sharkey, Hellawell, and Mulhall in particular, linked well with Sharkey shortly after the equaliser. Sharkey fed Hellawell, who sped once again to the touchline. His cross found Mulhall, whose sharp shot looked goal-bound until Waiters just managed to deflect the ball.

A couple of minutes later, Baxter fed Mulhall, who once again fired a thunderbolt that Waiters only just hung on to.

It was then the turn of the home team to go close, with Len Ashurst clearing a Charnley header off the goal line.

On 69 minutes came the decisive moment of the game. Blackpool full-back Jimmy Armfield, who up to this point had played a dogged, determined game, decided to dribble out of his penalty area. The Sunderland player in front of him was Jim Baxter, whose tackle statistics would have been very low up to this point in the game. Did Armfield envisage easily beating the enigmatic Scot? We shall never know. What did happen was Baxter not only won the ball, but he smoothly put distance between himself and the robbed defender before placing the perfect pass to Nic Sharkey, who had ghosted away from his marker to plant the ball firmly past Waiters in the Blackpool goal.

Once again, the Roker Horde, who had never ceased its vocal support all game, belted out their approval, and Baxter took the plaudits.

Slim Jim was probably still basking in those plaudits when the rugged Hugh Fisher went over the top on him. It was a calculated leg-breaker of a tackle, and it could easily have seen a dismissal. Luckily it was only a booking. However, Fisher might have wished he had been sent from the field a moment later. With the referee looking the other way, Baxter hacked Fisher down, with the ball nowhere near either of them. It was a petulant foul, which had the ref witnessed it, could have also seen a red card.

Sunderland just about managed to see the game out, courtesy of a heart-stopping moment in the very last minute of the game, when Horne fired a wicked cross right along the six-yard line that was swung at by a host of defenders and attackers alike as it sped on its way.

The first away win of the season was gratefully received by the Roker Horde and probably fuelled a good weekend in Blackpool for some, if not most.

What was not known at this point in the campaign was that this would be Sunderland's only away win all season, so just as well it was enjoyed by so many.

Baxter and Sharkey would repeat their goal-scoring feat in the next game against Fulham, making it three games in a row that the same two players had scored the goals to get Sunderland the points.

The victory saw Sunderland move up to sixth in the table, but that was as good as it got in a season that promised so much. The team spent the majority of the campaign in the bottom third of the division, with a divided dressing room and a manager whose priority appeared to be to purge any Catholic players from the team. Nic Sharkey, John O'Hare, Harry Hood, and Mike Hellawell were just some of the Catholic players who appeared to suffer under McColl.

Jim Baxter's signing had created so much excitement and anticipation. Ivor Broadis, writing in the Sunday Sun after the Blackpool game, described Baxter's contribution to the contest as "just about enough," which probably summed up his contribution to this season on the pitch.

Sunderland finished a disappointing 19th on 36 points, with Blackburn (20 points) and Northampton Town (33 points) relegated.

On this day back in 1965, two points and an away win, up to sixth in the table, and off to get a good look at the illuminations made for the perfect end to a day.

Division One - Date: 18.09.1965

Venue: Bloomfield Road - Attendance: 28,277

Blackpool 1-2 Sunderland

Goalscorers: Baxter (pen) 40 mins; Green 56 mins; Sharkey 69 mins

Blackpool: Waiters; Armfield; Craven; Fisher; Rowe (McPhee 19 mins); Green; Moir; Ball; Charnley; Robson; Horne

Sunderland: Montgomery; Irwin; Ashurst; Parke; Harvey; McNab; Hellawell; Herd; Sharkey; Baxter; Mulhall Sub: Campbell