SUNDERLAND 1 CITY 0
League Division 1
7th October 1967
Attendance 27,885
Scorer Martin(30)
Ref K Styles
City Mulhearn, Book, Pardoe, Horne, Heslop, Oakes, Bowles, Bell, Summerbee, Coleman, Young – sub Doyle(unused)
Sunderland Montgomery, Irwin, Parke, Todd, Hurley, Baxter, Suggett, Kinnell, Martin, Heslop, Brand – sub Herd
FROM THE PRESS BOX
Maybe it was not so surprising that Manchester City with all their power and command failed to achieve the victory which was their due against trebletorn Sunderland at Roker Park where on a normal occasion Summerbee, Young, Bowles, and Coleman might have had the game well won in the first 20 minutes Instead a goal by Martin after 30 minutes suffiiced for Sunderland, and City were left to consider the results of injustice
The element which enabled Sunderland to survive though out-played in all the finer points for most of the game was the spur of desperation sharpened by four successive defeats. And the rowel bit deepest into Hurley, who had been recalled after a seven months’ absence from first team football and who had put in a request for a transfer two days after taking £5,000 from a testimonial match.
Failure before a critical crowd could have hastened the end for him but his magnificent response to the pressures of the occasion held out the lifeline to his sorely troubled colleagues in defence. With luck an extra ally, they survived and, beyond belief, City’s tremendous efforts were in vain, Bell and Oakes provided the key to City’s pattern. and the thrustful work of Young, Bowles and Coleman gave early warning that the balance of power lay with them. Only Summerbee failed to win the space which came so easily to his colleagues chiefly because he was on the receiving end of a series of lunging tackles by Hurley who found close, strong marking the only safe answer. When Summerbee switched to the right wing in the second half, he became a much more potent force but by then he had been booked along with Todd after a midfield flare-up immediately after Sunderland’s goal.
In the early minutes, shots by Bell and Coleman rebounded into play from bar and post. Bowles shot wide from close in. and Montgomery made a superb save from Oakes. An interception on the goalline by Irwin, foiled Summerbee. Sunderland’s temporary improvement after their goal with Baxter seeking out openings for Suggett, Martin and Brand, gave Heslop, Book, and Pardoe the chance to distingnish themselves while Mulhearn Joined in the act with a cool and capable answer to everything which went his way. His one anxious moment passed when a drive by Suggett beat him, but the ball rebounded off a post.
City regained command and went close to equalising when, with Montgomery drawn from his goal and beaten, Coleman’s lob towards an empty net swung wide of the target. Then Hurley came to Sunderland’s rescue when Young swerved past Montgomery but his angled drive was breasted down just short of the line bv the Sunderland centre half.
FROM THE GUARDIAN 9TH OCTOBER 1967 By a Special Correspondent