Sunderland came into this game against Liverpool at Roker Park occupying eleventh position in the league.
Raich Carter was still injured, so Benny Yorston continued at inside-right.
All the chat in the stands and the press prior to this game was about the impending sale of local centre-forward Bobby Gurney. By all accounts, Sunderland had set a price, believed to be £5,000, and there was plenty of interest. Birmingham City had made a bid that allegedly had fallen £300 short of Sunderland’s valuation. Sheffield United, Leicester and Manchester City were hovering.
Birmingham had representation at the game – Mr Webster, who had worked under Bob Kyle at Sunderland.
Liverpool had future Sunderland half-back Tom Morrison in their first eleven. They also had former Sunderland player David Wright, who had joined Sunderland in April 1927 from Cowdenbeath in an £8,000 deal that also saw Bill Murray join the club from The Blue Brazil (or, more accurately, The Miners, as they were known then), as Sunderland Secretary/Manager Bob Kyle splashed the cash!
There looked to be over 25,000 fans in Roker Park on a bright but breezy autumn day as the game kicked off.
The early stage of this game belonged to Liverpool, though youngster Jimmy Thorpe in Sunderland’s goal was untroubled.
The game was a good ten minutes old before Gurney drove a shot just over the bar from an excellent Bert Davis pass. Then came a lovely phase of play as Patsy Gallacher created space for Jimmy Connor to break away down his wing. His low cross to Gurney was cleverly ‘dinked’ into the path of Davis and an open goal, but it had just a little too much pace, and the right winger could not react in time.
With Sunderland’s centre-half Jock McDougal keeping Liverpool’s dangerman Sam English very quiet, the front five of Davis, Yorston, Gurney, Gallacher and Connor began to dominate the game.
A Gurney header from a clever Davis cross had South African international goalkeeper Arthur Riley straining every sinew to keep the ball out of the net.
In a rare Liverpool attack, full-back Bill Murray stepped in to thwart another South African, Berry Nieuwenhuys (commonly referred to as “Nivvy”), just as he was about to shoot.
On thirty minutes, Sunderland broke the deadlock and, whilst there was an element of luck about the goal, it was no more than was deserved on the balance of play.
A dangerous Yorston cross was cleared by the Liverpool defence. The ball fell invitingly to Danny Edgar. The Jarrow half-back was noted for his kicking power, but as he stepped forward to hammer the shot, he mishit the ball, which skewed forwards into the box. With the majority spectating on the mishit, it was Gallacher who pounced, flying onto the ball and driving it past Riley’s left-hand side and into the net.
Liverpool responded and tested the Sunderland keeper for the first real time in the game.
Morrison had fed Gordon Hodgson with a good pass. The ball was cleared for a corner, which was met powerfully by Hodgson. This looked like it was going in, but Thorpe dived spectacularly to fingertip the ball to safety. It was an attempt and save that drew warm applause from the crowd.
Wright was struggling with an injury and, whilst he was getting treatment, Liverpool half-back Jimmy McDougal took a heavy tackle from Murray that also required the ‘magic sponge’.
With both players off the pitch, Sunderland went into overdrive and Gurney finished off a rapid team move by flicking the ball into the net. Unfortunately, Mr Wood, the referee, deemed it offside.
Davis was then stopped in full flight, and the ball spun out to Yorston, whose fine shot swerved just wide.
Coming into the last stages of the first half, Gurney, on the charge, was stopped in the box. The ball squirted to the right of a gaggle of players and, once again, it was the ever-alert Gallacher who took the ball in full flight and dribbled it right up to Riley before a shimmy and a tap past him into the net for his second goal of the game. Once again, there was an element of good fortune about the way the ball presented itself, but there was no doubt about the skilful finish.
The second half resumed with two Liverpool players (McDougal and Wright) struggling with knocks. Sunderland were not in the mood for going easy and commenced an assault on the visitors’ goal.
In the fifty-fourth minute came the best goal of the game. Yorston, in midfield, cleverly dummied and feinted to pass, wrong-footing two defenders. He played a slide-rule pass into the penalty box, which Gallacher once again took on the run, but this time smashed the ball past Riley for his hat-trick. It really was a glorious goal that had the press hacks literally drooling in their reports on this game.
Despite their difficulties with injuries and Sunderland just about laying siege to their goal, Liverpool did respond gamely. Less than five minutes after Gallacher’s goal, Sam English escaped the vice-like clutches of McDougal to pounce on a rare mix-up in the Sunderland penalty box. He smashed the ball from close range past Thorpe to at least get the visitors on the scoreboard.
It was just about English’s only meaningful contribution to the game, particularly relevant as he was being touted as Sunderland’s next centre-forward, with Cochrane apparently very keen. On the evidence of this game, at least, Gurney was by far the better forward, and Sunderland would be mad to sell him!
Liverpool lost winger Alf Hanson for the last phase of the game, adding to their injury list. With Sunderland having the majority of the possession in and around the Liverpool penalty box, it was only a matter of luck and Riley’s brilliance that saw the visitors concede only one more goal. It could very easily have been five or six!
The fourth goal was scored by inside-right Yorston. His performance warranted a goal, though, given Riley’s heroics, it could probably be argued that the same was true of the Liverpool keeper.
With the Liverpool goal under siege, the ball came out to Yorston on the edge of the box. He struck a fierce, accurate drive that left Riley unsighted and, consequently, flat-footed as the ball sailed into the net in the eightieth minute.
At the end of the game, the crowd gave Bobby Gurney a special cheer and applause, probably anticipating they might not see him again in a Sunderland shirt. Thankfully, they did see him again, as he went on to play 388 games for the Lads in total, scoring 228 goals on his way to becoming a Sunderland legend.
Sunderland moved up to fourth in the table after this result, but that was as good as it got in 1933/34, with a developing team finishing sixth in the table at the end of the season. Gurney finished the season with 22 goals in 41 games. Hat-trick hero Gallacher scored 17 goals in 32 games, but better times were not far away as Johnny Cochrane continued to wheel and deal towards a title-winning and FA Cup-winning team.
Division One
Date – 14.10.1933
Venue – Roker Park
Attendance – 25,321
Sunderland 4 – 1 Liverpool
Goal scorers – Gallacher 30, 41, 54 mins; Yorston 80 mins.
English 58 mins.Sunderland: Thorpe; Murray; Shaw; McNab; Jock McDougal; Edgar; Davis; Yorston; Gurney; Gallacher; Connor.
Liverpool: Riley; Steel; Tennant; Morrison; Bradshaw; Jim McDougal; Nieuwenhuys; Hodgson; English; Wright; Hanson.