On This Day In History - 22nd April - A Tense Relegation Trip Wednesday, 22nd Apr 2020 10:19 Saints travelled up to the North East to face Sunderland at Roker Park, knowing that defeat would make us favourites for the drop, although a win would lift us clear but drop the home side in it. This was the final season for Sunderland at Roker Park and the penultimate match at the iconic ground, indeed the final game to be played there under floodlights. After a good early start under Graeme Souness, Saints had done their usual mid season collapse and had spent from Christmas until 10 days earlier in the bottom two, however a mini revival had pulled us into 17 place and safety and this was the game that would probably go a long way to deciding whether we would go up and down. We were 4th from bottom on 35 points from 35 games, below us Forest were rock bottom with 32 points from 35 games and then came Middlesbrough 33 from 33 and then directly below us only on goal difference West Ham on 35 from 34 games. Above us where the evening's opponents Sunderland on 37 points from 35 games and then Coventry on 38 points but having played a game more, Blackburn were also on 38 games but had only played 34 games. So it was very congested at the bottom and to add to the mix there was the fact that Middlesbrough had not turned up for their fixture at Blackburn in December and were citing an injury crisis, this had been turned down and Blackburn had been awarded the points,, but the situation was still simmering and could go legal if Boro went down. So the trip to Sunderland on a Tuesday night was vital, it could send us to the cusp of safety or put one foot into the relegation mire with the other being dragged towards it. I was staying up in the North East on a Holiday Park at Whitley Bay as fiends of ours from Kent at the time where staying up there and the Husband wanted to go to Roker Park as it was a ground he had never been to. So we he drove me down to Sunderland on the evening and we parked up, he had a ticket in the home terrace and I was in the away section that was still terracing, he suggested meeting outside the away turnstiles, but I told him I was rather hoping there would be a baying mob of locals incensed at their latest defeat baying for our blood on this spot so we went for a quieter spot at the other end of the ground. Saints had a good following up at Roker Park given it was a tuesday night game and they would not be disappointed with the game or the result although the tension was as bad as any I have experienced watching Saints. A look at the line ups showed that both sides had packed their starting XI with defenders and defensive midfielders, although Saints looked more adventurous given they had two forwards on the pitch and Eyal Berkovic who was not known for his work rate, but a draw suited Sunderland far better than us, in truth we had to win. The game started well for Saints but there was a set back on 10 minutes when Claus Lundekvam had to go off injured, with no central defenders on the bench we had to reshuffle and Francis Benali came on to slot in at left back, this was a big test for Franny as in Saturday's game against Coventry when we had thrown away a two goal lead, he had hit a short back pass for them to nip in and equalise, would this affect him. Hearts were in mouths when he found himself in a similar position minutes after coming on, I have to admit most willed him to smash it into the stands, but he did what he every good player should do, play it back to the keeper, this time it reached, we knew we were going to be all right, even with a patched up defence. But it got better on 22 minutes when Egil Ostenstad scored to silence the Roker Roar and send 2,000 Saints fans in the full house of 21,477 wild, it immediately sparked a change on the Sunderland bench, off came a midfielder and on came Niall Quinn, they knew they were chasing the game and with a lack of mobility and height in the centre of our defence it was clear what the tactic was bang it up to the 8ft 7 beanpole Quinn, ok he was a little shorter than that but he didn't look it on that night. We had other chances in the first half but it was now starting to be one way traffic with the ball being launched to Quinn at every opportunity, when the break came we were glad to hear the whistle. But the second half would be all Sunderland and they had one tactic, they got the ball wide out to Chris Waddle who hit a cross hoping to find Quinn. Waddle must have hit 30 crosses, it certainly seemed like that, but Quinn got his head on few of them, if Richard Dryden didn't get his head to it or in the way to distract Quinn then Maik Taylor came off his line and caught the cross. But with 25 minutes gone we lost Richard Dryden to an injury and had to reshuffle again, I think it was Ulrich Van Goebbel who was now partering Jason Dodd in the centre of the defence, I couldn't be too sure just about everyone was in the final third of the field with Micky Evans working hisnuts off to try and chase down our clearances. This was one of the best goalkeeping performances I saw for Saints between Tim Flowers leaving in 1993 and Anti Niemi joining in 2002 nine years later, on this night Taylor was absolutely magnificent, but he had been very good since joining in January of that year. He did just what you want a keeper to do and that is command his box, at times on this night this seemed to be a game played between three contestants, Waddle crossed, Quinn challenged and Taylor caught the ball. When Dave Jones arrived at the club a few months later I met with him and he asked the three of us present where we thought our strengths and weaknesses were, to a man we all said you won't need to buy a keeper, he took no notice and signed Paul Jones, I often wonder how much better we could have done if we had kept Taylor, Jones had his moments but at 30 when he arrived he was never going to get better and Taylor was 25 and in his time at Saints, 18 League games in this season he looked to have it all, command of his box and a good shot stopper. Paul Jones played a lot of games for Saints, but truth was he rarely had anyone pushing him for his place, so that did not endear me to Dave Jones when he arrived, nor did the fact that he took away Francis Benali's number 3 shirt and gave it to his other Stockport signing Lee Todd, Franny got his place back after only 6 games,Todd played only 3 more. Anyway I digress as the game entered it's final stages we were under total bombardment, but holding firm thanks to Maik Taylor, I nearly didn't see the final minutes as they approached someone offered me a shot from their hip flask, I declined, but the mate of mine next to me didn't and the policeman stood behind also made them both an offer and that was to be ejected from the ground. So I faced the final minutes alone and it was even more frenzied than the ones before Sunderland roared on kept putting the ball into our box and we kept dealing with it, it was now really a game of defence against attack, we would only get near the half way line when the final whistle went and we could head for the tunnel. It seemed to go on for ever but then finally we cleared the ball for the umpteenth time and even referee Mike Riley seemed to accept that Sunderland would not score if they were there all night and he blew for time. We celebrated with the team as Sunderland fans could not believe that their team could not score, so much so that they could barely muster any enthusiasm to form a baying mob with pitchforks. I slipped out of the ground into the crowds, trying to look as shell shocked as the rest, met up with my mate and we drove back to Whitley Bay to finally have a beer. We stayed up, Sunderland went down and Middlesbrough also went down courtesy of their three point deduction. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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