On This Day (11 April 1977): A ‘Towering’ Performance Helps Sunderland To Victory!

The entrance to Roker Park, former home of Sunderland (Photo by Peter Robinson/EMPICS via Getty Images) | PA Images via Getty Images As the years go by, many Sunderland wins may fade with memory loss, but never if it’s against Manchester United, so it makes me feel decidedly old to say I remember this win over the Red Devils very well! It was to be the-then Sunderland captain Tony Towers’ twenty-fifth birthday two days later, so it was an early birthday present as he slotted home the winner from the penalty spot to give the Black Cats a 2-1 victory over Manchester United. It wasn’t early as far as Sunderland fans were concerned, but it arrived with perfect timing to give them a much-needed boost and jump up the table.

Towers hadn’t played for over two months and so it was a very welcome return to duty for our strong-tackling midfielder — a player I’ve always been very fond of and would be in or around my favourite Lads team of the decade. If his deciding goal wasn’t enough to make everyone feel glad he was back, Towers was also the instigator for the other Sunderland goal, scored by Kevin Arnott. It all culminated in a very creditable win over a Manchester United team that was chasing a European place on two fronts.

Sunderland were one of several clubs involved in a dogfight towards the bottom of the table, and this win said a lot about our grit and determination to battle for our top flight status. The win moved us up the table to sixteenth out of twenty two — the highest-placed of six sides all on twenty seven points — with only six games remaining, and our best position since August. The Lads had been ‘dead men walking’ when moving towards Christmas and during the early months of 1977, winning only two of their first twenty five matches.

This included a run of nine straight defeats and a ten-game run without even scoring a goal. Furthermore, Bob Stokoe had already resigned earlier that season due to the poor start, citing health problems. Indeed, Sunderland had occupied one of the bottom four spots for all but one week — from September 11 1976, until this game — so you can imagine the relief and the boost the fans and team would’ve received from that climb (albeit on goal difference — the first time this had been used, as opposed to goal average) New manager Jimmy Adamson had vowed they would do everything in their power to stay out of the bottom three (“But obviously, it’s going to be about what the other teams around us do as well,” he added).