On This Day (9 April 1988) Promotion Campaign Back On Track As Sunderland Demolish Southend

After an Easter Saturday trip to Grimsby saw Sunderland narrowly return home with all three points , the lads faced Chesterfield on Easter Monday and won a topsy-turvy game 3-2. Two games in three days, two tight victories and six points added to the season’s total was just what the doctor ordered to cure the run-in jitters that had badly affected players and fans alike. With a renewed sense of optimism and confidence, Sunderland traveled to Roots Hall to face a Southend team they’d beaten 7-0 in the reverse fixture earlier in the season – however the time in between the bank holiday fixture and another trip south hadn’t all been plain sailing.

After the trouble at York a couple of weeks earlier, the club had been called to a disciplinary hearing in front of a three-man FA disciplinary team at Bootham Crescent. Bob Murray, Denis Smith, club secretary Geoff Davison, and Roker Park stadium manager Fred Bailey were called to give evidence in a tiring and lengthy session, which also saw match referee Paul Danson and his linesmen summoned to speak. A decision, they were told, wouldn’t be reached until a follow-up meeting at Hillsborough on 13 April.

A fine seemed the likeliest outcome, although there was a strong possibility Sunderland fans could be banned from the remaining away games of the season, and the club were aggrieved that the panel didn’t want to read the ‘bundle of letters’ from irate fans complaining about York’s crowd control and what would today be called price gouging. While things off the field may have been rather heavy going, on the field the team’s mood was buoyant, as they headed to Roots Hall on the back of two much needed wins. Youngster Gary Owers had recovered from an injury suffered on Easter Monday to take his place in an unchanged line up, which included recent arrival Colin Pascoe.

It was Sunderland’s first ever visit to Southend – and they put on a show befitting of Champions-in-waiting in an exceptional first half display. The lads were 3-0 up in just 26 minutes. John MacPhail opened the scoring from the spot on five minutes after Gabbiadini was sandwiched by two Southend defenders.