Ha'way back when: Sunderland games against Charlton, Birmingham and Tottenham

1993

A Don Goodman penalty on 81 minutes gave Sunderland a 1-0 First Division victory at Charlton in Terry Butcher’s third game in charge of the Rokermen.

Butcher, who took over from Malcolm Crosby, was already a player at the club and had become the club’s first player-manager, after Dave Bassett and Steve Coppell turned down the job. Butcher was glad to have seen the kick go in - in his first game in charge, Sunderland had lost 1-0 at home to Swindon in a game where both Gordon Armstrong and Kevin Ball both missed spot-kicks!

After kicking off his reign with the defeat, Sunderland had won at home to Oxford, so a second successive win raised spirits.

Not for long, of course.

Just three wins followed in the remaining 18 games as Sunderland just avoided relegation to the third tier again.

Sunderland finished 21st with 50 points, one place and one point above both Brentford and Cambridge United, who ended with 49 and were both relegated (along with Bristol Rovers who finished bottom with 41 points) on the final day of the season, when the Rokermen survived despite losing 3-1 at Notts County.

Sunderland: Norman, Kay, A Smith, Atkinson (Ord 56), Butcher, Ball, Colquhoun, Gray, Goodman, Mooney, Armstrong. Sub: Russell.

2004

Division One Sunderland might have thought they had missed the chance to progress into the sixth round of the FA Cup when they drew 1-1 at home to Premiership side Birmingham City.

Mick McCarthy’s side needed an equaliser from Kavin Kyle after 39 minutes, to cancel out Mikael Forsell’s opener for Steve Bruce’s Blues. But in the replay, two Tommy Smith goals in extra-time say the Black Cats claim a 2-0 victory.

Smith was at it again in the sixth round, getting the only goal as Sunderland beat Sheffield United 1-0 to gain a place in the semi-final at Old Trafford.

Unfortunately, they lost out there to fellow Division One side Millwall, with Tim Cahill getting the only goal.

Sunderland (v Birmingham): Poom, Wright, McCartney, Whitley, Breen, Bjorklund, Oster, McAteer, Kyle, Stewart, Arca. Subs: Alnwick, Williams, Thirlwell, Thornton, Smith.

2011

Tottenham moved up to fourth in the Premier League table after coming from behind to beat Steve Bruce’s Sunderland 2-1 at the Stadium of Light.

The defeat left Sunderland – who had had a fine first half of the season – in seventh place, with 37 points from 27 games.

Asamoah Gyan’s skilful finish opened the scoring for the Black Cats on 11 minutes. From Kieran Richardson’s cross, the Ghanaian took one touch with his left boot before turning and firing his shot through Michael Dawson’s legs and into the bottom corner.

Spurs equalised on the stroke of half-time through Michael Dawson’s thunderous header from a Steven Pienaar corner. And Niko Kranjcar gave the visitors, who had Jermain Defoe and Steven Pienaar in their line-up, all three points with a volley on 57 minutes.

Sunderland finished the season 10th, the season derailed by Darren Bent’s exit to Aston Villa a few weeks before this game.

Sunderland: Gordon, Bardsley, Richardson, Mensah, Onuoha (Zenden 85), Bramble, Malbranque (Elmohamady 76), Henderson, Muntari, Sessegnon, Gyan. Subs: Mignolet, Angeleri, Ferdinand, Zenden, Riveros, Colback, Elmohamady.

Tottenham: Gomes, Gallas, Dawson, Corluka, Assou-Ekotto, Jenas, Kranjcar, Sandro, Pienaar, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe (Palacios 87). Subs: Cudicini, Bassong, Khumalo, Woodgate, Lennon, Palacios, Crouch. Att: 40,986