On This Day (22 March 1890): Black Cats Take The Local Bragging Rights!

It was cup final day, with local rivals Sunderland and Darlington hoping to take the honours and lift the Durham Challenge Cup. Two of the stronger clubs in the county, the pair had history in this particular competition and had been regular opponents over the years, with the most recent clash ending in a convincing win for the Lads and making them favourites to win the competition for a fourth time. In November, a Newcastle Road friendly had ended 7-0 to the hosts with Johnny Campbell (2), John Breconridge (2), Will Gibson and Jock Smith (two) getting the goals.

Since then, they’d progressed in the cup with wins over Birtley and Darlington St. Augustine’s after their scheduled opponents in the first round, St. Wilfrid’s of Bishop Auckland, had scratched.

The match was to take place at the Victoria Grounds in Stockton, which had been picked by the Durham FA because it was relatively equidistant between the two clubs, easy to reach via train and relatively well-appointed in terms of facilities. Sunderland’s party left from the Central Railway Station shortly before 14:00, on a saloon carriage attached to a heavily crowded excursion train. Upon arrival in Stockton, they found the high street to be “busy and bustling” due to the large number of expectant supporters that had descended upon the Teesside borough from “every part of the County”.

That was according to the Sunderland Daily Echo And Shipping Gazette , who also advised that amongst those on the team carriage were members of the committee and both Jock Scott and John Stevenson — two members of the squad that were forced to miss out on the playing but were happy still to support their colleagues. Scott, who’d arrived earlier in the season from Scotland, was ineligible as he’d already appeared in the Lanarkshire Cup before coming to Wearside, but for Stevenson, things were a little more complicated. The right half had been a regular during the campaign but in February decided to leave the area in what was seen by many fans as a shock move.