On This Day (26th March 1951): Derby day delight for Sunderland!

03/26/2025 02:00 AM

Sunderland had been unlucky not to win at St James three days earlier but had sat back on their lead. They did not make that mistake at Roker Park and thoroughly deserved their victory.

The Easter schedule of games could be hard going, and this season had thrown up a tough run for inconsistent Sunderland: two derby games with Newcastle and, sandwiched in between, an away match against Sheffield Wednesday (fighting for their First Division survival). Sunderland had played well at St James' Park but had sat back on their lead having dominated the game to go in front. Jackie Milburn levelled the game in the dying embers, which finished two-all.

Sunderland got what they deserved for their performance at Hillsborough the next day and were thrashed three goals to nil — and by all accounts were lucky to get nil. It must have been challenging to know which Sunderland team was going to show up at Roker Park.

Newcastle would contest the FA Cup final in May against Stanley Matthews and Blackpool; they also were still in the running for the league title with games in hand on leaders Spurs. In defence, they had Bobby Cowell, Bob Stokoe, and the legendary Frank Brennan, who had been on the point of signing for Bill Murray and Sunderland in the 1945/46 season until United nipped in! Newcastle also had the skills of Ernie Taylor, Jackie Milburn, and Bobby Mitchell up front; they were a match for most teams this 1950/51 season.

Sunderland's campaign had been disappointing, to say the least. They had looked odds-on to win the title coming towards the end of the 1949/50 season but had thrown it away with an almost unexplainable run of three defeats against two relegation candidates and Boro. By the time they got back to winning ways, two of their rivals had shot past them, affording no opportunity for Sunderland to come back, and the title was lost with Sunderland a point behind champions Portsmouth and runners-up Wolves.

Better things had been expected of this season, with full-back Jack Hedley bought from Everton and a flying, fiery winger from Glentoran, Billy Bingham. In November, with the season mystifyingly faltering, Sunderland paid a record fee for Welsh international centre-forward Trevor Ford. Goals had come, unfortunately at both ends, and performances had swung from flashes of very good to very, very poor! Consequently, the Lads arrived at this fixture in fifteenth position, looking more towards the relegation battle than upwardly mobile amongst the title contenders!

Sunderland were unchanged for the third game of this Easter schedule, and a crowd of well over fifty thousand had gathered to see how these two old rivals would go against each other.

Sunderland set off at a rip-roaring pace, working the ball down one wing and then the other. With Shackleton looking like he was right up for this one, Newcastle hardly got a touch in the first ten minutes as the ball was zipped about the park, and the Toon defence was given a severe workout.

Trevor Ford began to come more into the game, and the usually unflappable Brennan and Stokoe were looking well rattled by the combination of his physicality and touch play. It looked for all the world like Shack and Ford had set aside their differences, as several bits of interplay on the edge of the Newcastle box had defenders chasing shadows.

On sixteen minutes, Ford took a pass from Shackleton and swerved around Brennan. He let fly with a low, hard shot that looked as if it was going to be covered by Fairbrother in the Newcastle goal. From seemingly nowhere, Jack Kirtley nipped in and flicked the ball past the stranded keeper to give Sunderland the lead their play deserved.

It seemed as if the Newcastle defence would collapse, as nothing was sticking up front, and the ball just kept coming back at them. Somehow they hung on, and on a rare sortie upfield, Arthur Wright gave away a foul on Hannah right on the edge of the Sunderland box. As Mitchell lined the kick up on twenty-eight minutes, it seemed to many watching as if Johnny Mapson in the Sunderland goal did not quite have his angles right, and so it proved. Mitchell almost chipped the ball over the wall and into the net for Newcastle's equaliser, with Mapson almost statuesque at the other side of the goal.

Sunderland fans had seen this happen on several occasions at Roker Park this season and must have feared the worst, but instead of galvanising Newcastle, the equaliser just seemed to provoke Sunderland, and they set about restoring their lead with pace and energy that coursed throughout the team.

Try as they might, Newcastle could not wrest control of the game from Sunderland's half-backs (Watson, Hall, and Wright) and inside-forwards (Shackleton and Kirtley). Six minutes after the Mitchell goal, Sunderland restored their lead, and once again Ford was at the centre of it all.

Tommy Wright carried the ball at pace deep into the heart of Newcastle's half before powering a low, hard cross into the "corridor of uncertainty". With defenders and keeper momentarily rooted, Ford swooped in and rocketed the ball past Fairbrother on the angle. Roker Park roared its approval, and Ford was quite happy to take the accolades.

A reasonable criticism of Sunderland whenever they went in front in this season was that they would sit back on their lead and end up drawing, even losing the game. This game was different; despite taking the lead, it was Sunderland who continued to press the game up to the half-time break and then for most of the second half.

There was no more scoring, but it was not for the want of trying or creating some good opportunities. Even in the very last minute of the game, Tommy Wright sliced through the Newcastle defence and rounded the keeper, only to see his shot cannon off the foot of the post.

Writing in the Journal, George Rhodes said Sunderland had "dazzled Newcastle and the 55,000 spectators" and that Newcastle's defence had been "given a grilling as never before". In the Sunderland Echo, Argus said that "the glorious uncertainty of soccer, particularly Sunderland soccer, was demonstrated at Roker Park yesterday"; he went on to say that Sunderland had "played Newcastle to a standstill".

For Newcastle, the three points Sunderland had taken off them over the Easter period virtually ended their interest in the league title. They finished the season in fourth position, eleven points behind champions Spurs. They did have the compensation of an FA Cup final in which they defeated Blackpool at Wembley.

For Sunderland, this confidence-building performance had been brilliant as they beat Newcastle for the first time since 1934. It should have been a real springboard into the final phase of the season, but typical of this campaign, they lost their next game at home to Arsenal and then drew away at high-flying Portsmouth, before finishing the season with two wins and two draws. It was an extremely frustrating season for the fans, teased every so often with a brilliant performance like the one witnessed on this day. Sunderland drew far too many games at Roker Park (9), losing ten and drawing seven on the road.

Sunderland's two goalscorers were interesting characters, to say the least. Harry Kirtley was on a part-time contract as he worked to finish his electrician's tickets down the pit. Remarkable really, in an age when Sunderland were signing some of the best players in the country, Kirtley's alertness in speed and thought generally kept him in the team if he was available. The Washington-born inside-forward made a total of 101 appearances, scoring 18 goals between April 1949 and May 1955.

Trevor Ford was something of a superstar and appeared to enjoy the mantle. He scored goals everywhere he went, and his record for Sunderland saw him score a very credible 70 goals in 117 appearances for the Lads. Unfortunately, his three full seasons and a bit on Wearside were dogged by his poor relationship with Len Shackleton. Allegations that Shack would put backspin on the ball when passing it to Ford or place the ball just out of his reach may be over-egged, but there is little denying that they did not like each other. Quoted in his biography Captain of the North, Stan Anderson could not put his finger on why they did not get on, but he was sure that Shack did not even like the way Ford combed his hair! This issue was a real difficulty in the dressing room at the time.

One other interesting story was that of Sunderland-born Ernie Taylor, who turned out for Newcastle in this game and would finish his career with Sunderland some ten years later. He played for Newcastle in the 1951 Cup Final against Blackpool. Stanley Matthews was so impressed with the little inside forward that he insisted his board sign Taylor for the Tangerines, and that was where Taylor started the 1951/52 season.

In 1958, he was due to sign for Sunderland just as the Munich Air Disaster occurred, and in an act of consolidation with the Old Trafford club in its hour of need, he was allowed to go to Manchester United and became their first signing after the disaster.

He was able to help stabilise the playing side with his experience and personality on the pitch, leading the Red Devils to a cup final against Bolton, which ended in glorious defeat. He signed for Sunderland in the close season of 1958/59 — a terrible time in the club's history—and left in August 1961, having helped the team to a consolidating sixth position in Division Two.

Division One Date - 26.03.1951 Venue - Roker Park Attendance - 55,150

Sunderland 2-1 Newcastle

Goalscorers - Kirtley 16 mins; Mitchell 28 mins; Ford 34 mins

Sunderland - Johnny Mapson; Jack Hedley; Arthur Hudgell; Willie Watson; Fred Hall; Arthur Wright; Tommy Wright; Harry Kirtley; Trevor Ford; Len Shackleton; Tommy Reynolds

Newcastle - Jack Fairbrother; Bobby Cowell; Bobby Corbett; Bob Stokoe; Frank Brennan; Charlie Crowe; Tommy Walker; Ernie Taylor; Jackie Milburn; George Hannah; Bobby Mitchell