On This Day (25 March 1921): Sunderland make it a Good Friday with a comfortable home win
03/25/2025 02:00 AM
We might've been in mid-table at the time, but the Lads had too much for Derby County during this Roker Park clash — with the Rams losing their shirts…literally!
Good Friday of 1921 wasn't much fun for struggling Derby County, whose trip to Wearside got off to an embarrassing start when they arrived to find their kit basket had somehow gone 'astray' en route.
Forced therefore to make do with a hastily-pulled together set of strips and boots lent to them by Sunderland, the ninety minutes of play that followed wasn't much better either, with the relegation-bound Rams soundly beaten by the hosts despite the Lads playing with ten men for a large proportion of the game.
A twisted knee suffered by Billy Moore in the first half meant that he had to sit out the rest of the action, although the returning Bobby Marshall was able to make up for it with an excellent shift.
Charlie Buchan also looked dangerous, even though the surface was a little greasy, whilst at the back both Joe Kasher and Charlie Parker were solid — the latter often springing the Lads into attack by dribbling the ball out from the back.
Goalkeeper George Lawrence meanwhile was Derby's best performer, although he was fortunate that several of his saves rebounded kindly for his defenders to clear, and after a couple of half chances in the first fifteen minutes, the Rams struggled to create anything of note.
Moore was already off the pitch when Buchan put Sunderland ahead, tricking several defenders in the area with tight control before firing into the net, and Parker made the numerical disadvantage even less of an issue when he scored from a free kick.
His set piece goal — which came before the break but the exact time of which doesn't appear to have been recorded anywhere — could've been blocked had a Derby defender not misjudged the flight of the ball, but Parker had been extremely unlucky not to have got onto the scoresheet before that so was due a bit of fortune.
Those mazy runs of his caused plenty of excitement throughout the afternoon and one such surge from the halfway line would've brought about a wonder goal were it not for a last-gasp intervention from the visitors, so it was good that he didn't have to wait much longer to find the net after that. Better still, the moment was made all the sweeter for it being the Seaham-born half-back's first Sunderland goal on home soil!
A comfortable victory was capped off with fifteen minutes remaining when Marshall scored in off the post from a tight angle, although the points had felt secure long before that.
On occasions, the pace in the second half dropped to something more akin to a low-key practice match — perhaps appropriate given the cobbled together 'Sunderland lite' appearance taken on by the opposition — but being a man down and with a busy Easter schedule to contend with, Robert Kyle was happy for his team to pace themselves.
Earning the win with plenty left in the tank was hugely impressive, although the joy was short-lived as our season's fortunes often fluctuated, and with both Moore and Cyril Gilhespy — also injured against Derby — both absent twenty four hours later, the Rokerites were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur.
There was no game scheduled for Easter Sunday but Easter Monday saw the return match at the Baseball Ground, where the ups and downs continued. Buchan scored to make it a league double, but it was to be our final away success of the campaign.
Friday 25 March 1921
Football League Division One
Roker Park
Attendance: 20,000
Sunderland 3 (Buchan 30', Parker ??, Marshall 75')
Derby County 0
Sunderland: Dempster, Hobson, England; Parker, Kasher, Mitton; Gilhespy, Marshall, Buchan; Moore, Martin
