OTD: ALAN BROWN HAT-TRICK

On this day in 1980, Alan Brown (middle row, the sixth player from the right, with the blonde hair) scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 home win against Oldham Athletic in the Second Division.

Brown started out at Sunderland as an apprentice but eventually went professional in September 1976. He went through an initial baptism of fire, debuting aged 17 but failing to score in any of his 11 league matches in 1976/77 as we fell out of the First Division by just a one point margin.

He played another six league matches as we finished sixth in the second tier the following year but he managed to get off the mark in the 1978/79 season, scoring six in 22 league appearances. We just missed out on promotion, once again falling short by a one point gap. The next season though, we did go up, as Brown added another nine league goals to his Sunderland statistics. Perhaps more crucially to his personal accolades though, he played a crucial role in the League Cup against Newcastle United.

In the first leg of the second round, we drew 2-2 with the Mags at Roker Park, setting up an all-important match at St James’ Park. Brown put us ahead on the night, and in the tie, with a goal in the 74th minute. Unfortunately two goals in four minutes from Stuart Boam and Alan Shoulder gave the hosts the advantage, 4-3 on aggregate. Then, in the 90th minute, Brown scored again to level the affair. The crowd of just over 30,500 were forced to watch a penalty shootout to decide who would progress, Brown made it 7-6 in the shootout and then they missed, meaning we went through.

Alan contributed another five the next season and then a sole goal in 1981/82. Weirdly, in ‘81/82, he spent a two month period out on loan just up the road at Newcastle. He moved to Shrewsbury Town permanently in August 1982 and had a season as their top goal scorer, before transferring to Doncaster Rovers in March 1984. At Doncaster, he helped them to promotion out of the Third Division and retired in 1986.

Overall, he played 127 matches for the Lads, scoring 25 in all competitions.

His son, Chris Brown, also a forward, also came through our academy. He scored 11 times in 69 appearances between 2003 and 2007, winning two Championship titles during his time on Wearside.