On This Day (18 August 1962): Sunderland’s latest push gets up and running!

Sunderland’s 1962/1963 Division Two charge started with a bang, with the Lads winning convincingly against near neighbours and fellow promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough in front of a bumper Roker Park crowd.

Alan Brown’s team had come within a fraction of going up at the end of the previous campaign and were eager to shake off any hangovers in a physical game played in blazing sunshine.

Visiting defender Ray Yeoman, who in later years would work at Sunderland as a coach, had an ongoing battle with Willie McPheat on the wing whilst in the centre, Boro forward Alan Peacock – just back from England duty at the FIFA World Cup in Chile – was well marshalled by Charlie Hurley.

The personal duels added an extra layer of intrigue for those watching on, and as is expected on the opening day, no quarter was given by either side.

The close marking and a series of well-timed tackles meant it was hard for the more creative players to shine, but when chances were forged, they usually came from Sunderland.

Brown was widely believed to have been in talks with Aberdeen over a move for George Mulhall in midweek, but with nothing being confirmed yet, there was space at outside left for Norman Clarke to make his competitive debut for the Lads against Middlesbrough, with the ‘Ballymena Boy’ making a telling contribution in the build up to the opener.

Crossing for Brian Clough, who initially struggled to control the ball, he then saw the former Boro man’s ‘striker’s instinct’ kicking in with a blasted finish.

Although hard fought, the match was played fairly, bar a spell either side of the hour mark in which the Teessiders lost their cool and ultimately lost the points.

Tempers flared when Bryan Orritt was accused of elbowing George Herd in the face and whilst it was not seen by any of the officials, both sets of players were left unhappy about the situation, resulting in a spate of niggly fouls.

Orritt was then cautioned for a subsequent infringement on Herd, and when another one of his teammates went in heavily on the popular Scot, the resulting free kick was put to good use.

Herd, who passed away earlier this month, was a constant thorn in the side of opposing teams that would regularly look to kick him out of the game.

However, it rarely worked as the effervescent international wore down his markers over the course of the 90 minutes and would be able to outpace them in the closing minutes, yet on this occasion, his reward came sooner when the set piece was floated in by Jimmy McNab and volleyed into the roof of the net by Hurley.

Even then, the red mist continued to envelop Bob Dennison’s troops, with Arthur Kaye also going into the book due to a bad challenge on Clarke, and by the time they’d come to their senses, it was 3-0, Clough again scoring against his hometown team when he drove in from Harry Hooper’s right-sided assist.

Only in the final stages did they regain their composure, and had Dick Neal scored instead of heading against the post moments after a Ronnie Burbeck strike, a late fightback could’ve been on.

As it was, Sunderland had enough to see themselves through to full time without any further frights or fouls, and early season optimism quickly grew.

Next up was a midweek fixture against Charlton Athletic, due to kick off at 18:30 as Roker’s new replacement ‘super’ floodlights weren’t quite ready. However, while that game saw another win, both the Lads and Boro would ultimately fall short, finishing third and fourth, respectively, with only the top two going up.

The two north east rivals would therefore have to endure at least one more season in the second tier, but for details of a clash between the pair when they were both riding high among the elite, come back on Tuesday for another ‘On This Day’ Wear-Tees report!

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Saturday 18 August 1962

Football League Division Two

Roker Park

Attendance: 48,106

Sunderland 3 (Clough 36’, 70’, Hurley 66’)

Middlesbrough 1 (Burbeck 78’)

Sunderland: Montgomery, Irwin, Ashurst; Anderson, Hurley, McNab; Hooper, Herd, Clough; McPheat, Clarke