OTD: LAST LEAGUE GAME AT ROKER

On this day in 1997 we played our last competitive game at Roker, beating Everton 3-0 to give the dear old place a memorable farewell - but not a last one, as there was a game against the Toffees' rivals from the other side of Stanley Park, as they'd been our opponents in Roker's first game 99 years earlier.

It had been a poor campaign following our promotion - our top scorers were Craig Russell and Paul Stewart with four each - meaning that a second season in the Prem depended on us beating Everton and following that with a win against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park.

We started the afternoon in 17th spot, having dropped from 16th by losing at Southampton in our previous game, and lined up:

Perez

Hall Howey Ord Gray

Bracewell Ball Williams

Stewart Quinn Waddle

Quinny, brought in to lead our attack, was making his first start since knacking his knee in September, almost certainly against sensible medical advice, after coming on as a sub at Southampton.

In front of what had become, because of the state of the ground, a near full house of 22,108, Chris Waddle was making the sixth of his seven league appearances, and had been involved in every goal we'd scored since his arrival. Despite being 36, he still possessed a wand of a left foot (is there even such a thing as a wand of a right foot?) and had never relied on pace to dictate play anyway - and he didn't disappoint on that day.

After a bit of a nervy opening period - Everton were in need of points to get out of bother - in which the visitors had the first chances, we struggled to settle down. The nerves seemed to be getting to us, and we could produce no sustained possession and thus chances were at a premium, and Quinny couldn't convert the one we did create.

Even then, Everton should have gone ahead when Lionel pulled off a brilliant save to keep out a Ferguson header from a corner, and Barmby somehow ballooned the ball into the Fullwell cage from only a few yards. Unbelievable, but a great sense of relief amongst the home fans.

Waddle's cross into the penalty area was handled by Duncan Ferguson - although he disputed the decision so much he was booked. Up stepped Paul Stewart stepped up to put away his only Sunderland spot kick on 36 minutes, and the crowd erupted as nerves were settled - but only slightly. We held on to that lead and went in at half time ahead.

In an effort to increase our lead, Reidy replaced fullback Gareth Hall with Allan "Magic "Johnston, and it worked. Two tricky ball-players were too much for Everton, but our second came in slightly unusual circumstances. Neville Southall carried the ball out of the box as he cleared, and for once the ref spotted it. Up stepped Waddle, in 56 minutes, to sweep home a perfect free kick, which Southall could only watch fly into the top corner, and send the crowd wild with the belief that a great escape was achievable. With over forty minutes to go, we had the chance to improve our goal difference - which we nearly did when another Waddle free evaded Southall and Everton had to thank Duncan Disorderly for hoofing it off the line. However, we did when another Waddle cross came in, and Johnston scored a rare header for his first Sunderland goal. 68 minutes gone, game over, really, although Lionel was called upon a couple of times to maintain the clean sheet.

The emotion of it being the final league game was diluted somewhat because we knew there was the Liverpool "final curtain" in ten days, but there were still a few damp eyes in the crowd as the team were given an enthusiastic ovation. After the lap of honour, we trooped away with a bit of hope - even if other results meant that we remained in 17th spot with 40 points and needed to win in south London to have a chance of staying up.

Final day drama? With Sunderland? Who'd have thought it.