We have an impressive record against Watford in our history, and we’ve won more than we’ve lost. This tie usually guarantees goals, in fact out of the 45 matches we’ve had against Watford none of them have ended in a goalless 0-0 draw…
SUNDERLAND 5-0 WATFORD - LEAGUE DIVISION TWO - 17.04.1972
We had seemingly squandered our promotion hopes meanwhile our guests had been sitting in the relegation zone for the entire season. Two weeks before they came to Roker Park they had already been relegated, so for them the game meant nothing but to us we could still try and hope for promotion. The game handed a 17 year old Joe Bolton his debut. We actually didn’t start the game very well, but we still went ahead five minutes before the interval, albeit against the run of play. From then we dominated but it wasn’t until the 72nd minute we got our second, then the floodgates opened and by the 87th minute we were five to the good. Our biggest win of the 71-72 season, in front of our lowest attendance of the season at Roker. Who says lightning doesn’t strike twice? In this case it did, suppose Watford should do their best to avoid playing us at home in April. We would beat them again 5-0 in 1980, in the Second Division again.