On This Day (19th Nov 1971): Bluebirds No Match for Black Cats in the Quagmire
11/20/2024 01:00 AM
Ninian Park was mud bound and icy wind lashed, but the Black Cats had a secret weapon as birthday boy Bobby Kerr produced a stunning player of the match performance.
Sunderland were unchanged for the third match in a row. Brian Chambers continued in midfield with Porterfield injured, and youngster John Lathan continued on the bench.
Cardiff were a difficult team to beat on their own park, though at this stage in the season, they were at the wrong end of the table. Despite their season-long battle with relegation, they would take a three-game marathon and dump us out of the FA Cup in January. They would come to Roker Park in early April and take a valuable draw to ease relegation worries while damaging our promotion ambitions.
Captain Don Murray would make his 400th appearance for the Bluebirds in this game. Cardiff also had future Sunderland player Alan Foggon in their squad but was injured. Dangerman Alan Warboys was playing, Cardiff had bought him from Sheffield Wednesday with the cash they got selling John Toshack to Liverpool.
The match would be played in atrocious conditions, biting icy wind and rain turned a pitch that had been (badly) reseeded in the summer into a quagmire.
Cardiff went on the attack right from kick-off with Woodruff and Warboys going close. Within three minutes Dave Watson required some treatment on an ankle knock after an agricultural challenge left him limping badly. He soldiered on till the sixty-second minute when he was taken off after sustaining another kick to the same leg.
On twenty-four minutes Cardiff went ahead. Ian Gibson, easily Cardiff's best player on the day, struck a hard low shot from fifteen yards out that gave Montgomery no chance as the ball nestled in the corner of the net.
Sunderland had started slowly but gradually forced their way into the game. Eventually dominating proceedings in a devastating eight-minute period just before half time.
On thirty-nine minutes, Bobby Kerr crossed from the left-hand side of the field finding Billy Hughes just on the edge of the box. Belying the terrible conditions, Hughes "turned on a tanner" and slalomed forwards before firing a blistering right foot shot from about six yards out into the corner of the net. It was an audacious turn in the conditions but few would argue we were not good value for drawing level.
Sunderland continued to dominate with Kerr, Harvey, and McGiven having storming games. On forty-four minutes, "Super Dick" Malone made what many of us would come to recognise as a characteristic run, galloping more than half the length of the pitch before slipping the ball to Hughes on the right wing. Hughes fired a cross into the box that Dennis Tueart reacted immediately too, hammering a right-footed volley that produced a good save from Irwin in the Cardiff goal.
The keeper threw the ball out to Don Murray, who was closed down really quickly. The captain's back pass to his keeper slowed and then came to a halt in the mud. Bobby Kerr was on this in a flash and all Murray could do was watch aghast as Kerr swooped and lashed the ball past Irwin from about sixteen yards out.
The lead was no more than the Lads deserved as they went in at half-time, for some much-needed shelter from the elements.
The second half was described by Paul Chester in the Sunday Sun as "an all-out battle in the mud". The Black Cat defence was well marshalled by Captain Martin Harvey and managed to keep Cardiff well away from our goal in the second half.
Bobby Kerr showed us another side of his game, with a driving forty-five minutes of stamina, energy and clever use of the ball out of defence. He was also reported as skipping over the top of the mud whilst others were sinking!
Despite a lot of Cardiff possession in the second half, it was Sunderland who came the closest to adding to their lead as Dick Malone fired a thirty-yard piledriver which keeper Irwin just managed to tip around the post.
On sixty-two minutes Dave Watson was eventually replaced by John Lathan. The combination of an ankle knock very early into the game, followed by a bad calf kick, meant the big Nottinghamshire lad could not continue and he limped off with what looked like a serious injury. Watson though would be back for the next match, a home game against Bristol City. In fact, he would play in every competitive game of this season, (including the Anglo-Italian Cup games) fifty-one games in total as this tremendous athlete's fitness and ability to recover quickly became ever more apparent.
This win moved the Lads up into sixth position and right back into the promotion picture and at this juncture of the season, nine points from nine away games was promotion form. However, from the nine games played at Roker Park, four of these had already been drawn and this would be indicative of how our season would go, as we came close but not close enough to promotion.
There was no doubt that the team were showing promise, who knew then what would lie ahead in season 1972/73.
Division Two — Date: 20th November 1971
Venue: Ninian Park Attendance: 12,735
Cardiff City 1-2 Sunderland — Goals: Gibson 24', Hughes 39', Kerr 45'
Cardiff: Irwin, Carver, Bell, Sutton, Murray, Phillips, Gibson, Clark, Warboys, Woodruff, Villars. Sub: Reece. Sunderland: Montgomery, Malone, Coleman, Pitt, Harvey, Kerr, McGiven, Chambers, Tueart, Watson (Lathan 62'), Hughes.
