We played three games in six days last week, but in terms of stressful moments during seasons when the schedule looks to be unrelenting and the incidents come thick and fast as much as the fixtures themselves, this time in 1989 has to be up there.
On this day in 1989, Denis Smith’s Sunderland were prepared for their 16th game in two months, including a weekend in which four players were arrested by local police following a midweek League Cup encounter against Exeter City.
The match in Devon against the Division Four side was for a place in the competition’s quarter-finals, and you can read more about the game and the aftermath, which featured the local Devon constabulary, here.
Despite the hectic schedule and legal troubles, Sunderland was in fourth place in Barclays Division Two, just a point behind Newcastle in third, three behind Leeds in second, and four points behind Sheffield United, who led the table.
As the season approached its halfway point, it was off to a good start. We ended mid-table the previous year in 11th place after returning to the second division after a brief spell in Division Three, so fans were enthusiastic but not anticipating fireworks.
It was a challenging league in terms of promotion prospects, with half of the division aiming to push for at least the top six, and we had solidly put ourselves among them heading into the holiday season, making the fixture played on this day in 1989 quite vital.
Following two consecutive league triumphs at home to Plymouth and away to Brighton, we prepared for the visit of Swindon Town, managed by Ossie Ardiles, who had converted from player-manager to manager at the start of the season.
The opposite meeting at the County Ground on the first day of the season marked the ex-Spurs legend’s penultimate game as a player at 37 years old. Denis Smith’s team won 2-0 in August thanks to goals from Eric Gates and substitute Warren Hawke, but the sending-off of Swindon’s Fitzroy Simpson tipped the balance in our favour.
Although Ardiles’ team was ninth in the rankings, they were only six points behind us with a game in hand, making the match even more important.
Smith used the same starting XI as at Exeter, and according to reports, we looked like a side that was paying the price for the recent difficult schedule, looking sluggish – which resulted in Alan McLoughlin, who sadly passed away in May 2021 (we were privileged to speak with McLoughlin on the Roker Rapport podcast in October 2020, which you can listen to here), giving the away side the lead just before half-time.
Sunderland kept working at in the second half, eventually getting a lucky break with twenty minutes remaining. Gordon Armstrong’s free kick from 25 yards out was hammered straight at the Swindon wall, but happily for us, it took a terrible deflection, leaving Fraser Digby stranded.
For much of the game, the away side appeared to be on top, and just two minutes after Armstrong’s lucky break, Duncan Shearer restored Swindon’s advantage, prompting Denis Smith to modify our attacking options.
Thomas Hauser came on as a substitute to replace Colin Pascoe, as he had done on 38 previous occasions (out of 69 appearances for the Lads), resulting in a front three of Gates, Gabbiadini, and Hauser for the final 15 minutes of the game.
We looked more menacing as aerial balls began to batter the Swindon penalty area, yet we appeared to be running out of time as we neared the final minute of regulation time.
As we increased the pressure, another ball was blasted into the area, and after a number of ricochets, it came to Hauser’s feet, where he made a good first touch before slamming it into the back of the net to save a point for Sunderland.
A happy Denis Smith was quick to praise the £200,000 signing from Old Boys:
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