On this day in 1985, Sunderland played in their first League Cup final against Norwich City.
On the road to Wembley, Sunderland had defeated the likes of Brian Clough’s Forest, Spurs(after a replay), Graham Taylor’s Watford, and then Chelsea in the semis – including the (in)famous second leg at the Bridge when Colin West scored our third after dodging a police horse and some flying seats. Oh, and David Speedie was sent off. Norwich’s cup run included a resounding 3-0 win over Arsenal at Highbury.
100,000 fans met at the old twin towers to sing their hearts out, a mix of green-and-yellow and red-and-white. As the game was played on a Sunday, many took the chance to make a weekend of it and arrived a day, or even two, early. In fact, there were a fair number who arrived in London on the Saturday not realising the game wasn’t until the next day. In an era where hooliganism was rife, both sets of supporters were in high spirits, and from the moment we arrived in the capital it was evident that the game was more about the supporters enjoying the event than knocking each others’ heads off. Perhaps it was because both sides were in the mire at the wrong end of the table, perhaps it was because Reg Vardy had business interests in both Sunderland and Norwich, but there was scarcely a cross word exchanged. Perhaps the most surreal example of this was a Norwich fan and a Sunderland fan playing chess at Kings Cross – nice, but it begs the question “who takes a chess set to a Cup Final?” Some of us even swapped sports for the day and took in a London Scottish rugby match at Richmond, with the blazer and tie members asking why there was someone with red and white pompoms attached to their flat cap.
The match became known as the ‘Friendship Final” such was the atmosphere of the game, and subsequent league games became the Friendship Trophy, the winner being the side that came out on top over the two games in a particular season. It’s a bit sad that it eventually petered out, but it was nice while it lasted.
Chris Turner
Barry Venison, Gary Bennett, David Corner, Gordon Chisholm, Nick Pickering (see, we tried three at the back even then)
Steve Berry, Peter Daniel
David Hodgson. Ian Wallace, Clive Walker
Norwich fans have David Corner to thank for the cup win, although the signs looked good for us as we’d beaten them comfortably, 3-1, at their place the previous Saturday. Stalwart defender Shaun Elliott had amassed enough disciplinary points to merit a suspension, so despite our best efforts via an appeal to have him available, young Corner, aged just 18 and with only four first team appearances under his belt, came into the side in his place.
We looked bright early on as we defended the end where Wearside was housed for the afternoon, with a spectacular shot from David Hodgson flying just over the bar, but with semi-final hero Colin West (three goals over the two legs) dropped in favour of Ian Wallace – what was manager Len Ashurst thinking? - we were light up front. Right at the start of the second half, Sunderland’s rookie centre half tried to usher the ball out for a goal kick, but he was dispossessed by the persistence of John Deehan, and Norwich scored- via a deflection from Gordon Chisholm’s chest. “I should have kicked the ball out,” said Corner, who said he didn’t “think there’s a day goes by where that game isn’t mentioned”.
The goal was the only one of the game, and the mistake would follow Corner throughout his career, although we had a great chance to level things almost immediately when we were awarded a penalty. I’d love it to have been Steve Bruce who conceded it, but it was a comedy handball by Norwich fullback Dennis van Wijk that even the most ardent mag would have spotted. Ref Neil Midgely certainly didn’t. Clive Walker, who’d scored twice at Stamford Bridge, stepped up and wrote himself into the history books when he became the first player to fail from the spot in a Wembley Cup Final. Future Sunderland keeper (well, six times an unused substitute) Chris Woods didn’t even have to make the save, as Walker’s effort smacked off his left-hand post and flew to safety. Norwich took heart from that, we were deflated, and even switching to a more attacking formation when Howard Gayle replaced Corner for the last half hour didn’t help.
The Canaries held onto their lead, the Lads had lost in their first ever League Cup final appearance, and we remain trophy-less in the competition to this day. If the chess game was surreal, seeing Gary Rowell salute the Sunderland fans, albeit as an injured Norwich player, was something else. A disgruntled Colin West was immediately sold to Watford, where he got his gruntle back and scored more goals than we did over the remaining dozen games, as we didn’t manage a league win, with three draws and nine defeats.
You’ve guessed it – we went down, and so did Norwich. Another one for the record books. A cracking weekend, though, apart from the ninety minutes in the middle.
