Remember, remember the fifth of November: Sunderland on this day down the years

The old saying goes: 'Remember, remember the fifth of November'. But Sunderland must go back a quarter of a century for their last memorable bonfire night.
Sunderland striker Ji Dong-won battles against Rio Ferdinand at Old Trafford on this day five years agoSunderland striker Ji Dong-won battles against Rio Ferdinand at Old Trafford on this day five years ago
Sunderland striker Ji Dong-won battles against Rio Ferdinand at Old Trafford on this day five years ago

Since the Red and Whites won at Ipswich on this day in 1991, Sunderland have succumbed to five defeats out of six, with the other game drawn, on November 5.

Here we look back at the last 11 games on this date in history.

Manchester Utd 1 Sunderland 0

November 5, 2011

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sunderland could count themselves a little unlucky not to have come away with a point from a game in which Manchester United struggled to hit top gear.

The Black Cats matched the home team in a first half which produced few chances for either side.

But United took the lead on the stroke of half-time in the wake of a great block by Keiren Weswood to Nani’s shot.

Nani put the resulting corner in from the right and with Wes Brown unsighted by Danny Welbeck, the Sunderland defender saw the ball too late and nodded into his own goal.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

United were more like their normal selves in the second half and, as well as Westwood producing a brilliant double save to deny first Wayne Rooney and then Patrice Evra, Kieran Richardson did well to head a goal-bound effort from Javier Hernandez off the line.

Sunderland had a couple of half-chances late on but just couldn’t quite do enough to prevent Brown’s home goal from separating the two sides at the final whistle.

MANCHESTER UTD: Lindegaard, Jones, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Fletcher (Fabio), Nani, Hernandez, Welbeck (Berbatov), Rooney, Park (Carrick)

SUNDERLAND: Westwood, Bardsley, Richardson, Turner, Brown, Cattermole, Larsson, Colback (Meyler), Bendtner, Wickham (Ji), Sessegnon (Elmohamady)

Att: 75,570

Manchester City 1 Sunderland 0

November 5, 2007

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sunderland’s run without a Premier League win reached six with a single-goal Monday night defeat at Manchester City.

Roy Keane’s men defended well, but City were always the stronger side and just about deserved their winner midway through the second half.

Darius Vassell did the damage on the left, sending over a fine cross and Stephen Ireland volleyed home past Craig Gordon.

MANCHESTER CITY: Hart, Jihai, Corluka, Dunne, Garrido, Johnson (Vassell), Elano (Ball), Hamann, Mpenza (Bianchi), Ireland, Petrov

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

SUNDERLAND: Gordon, Nosworthy, Harte, Collins, Higginbotham, Etuhu, Miller, Leadbitter, Jones, Stokes (Chopra), Murphy (Wallace)

Att: 40,038

Arsenal 3 Sunderland 1

November 5, 2005

Mick McCarthy’s Black Cats succumbed to a fifth straight Premier League defeat, in a run which eventually reached 10, as Thierry Henry notched twice for Arsenal.

The Gunners grabbed a 12th-minute lead when Sol Campbell’s long ball into the box was taken down by Robin van Persie and he fired past keeper Ben Alnwick.

Henry doubled the lead, sidefooting home from close range after a van Persie pass on 36 minutes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sunderland stayed in the game before pulling a goal back 15 minutes from time, when Alan Stubbs pounced from close range after Steve Caldwell flicked on a cross.

But the Gunners’ dominance returned and they sealed victory as Henry nutmegged Caldwell and fired beyond Alnwick after taking a Cesc Fabregas pass in his stride.

ARSENAL: Lehmann, Lauren, Clichy, Toure, Campbell, Gilberto, Pires, Fabregas, Henry, Reyes (Eboue), van Persie (Bergkamp)

SUNDERLAND: Alnwick, Nosworthy (Miller), Colins, Breen, Stubbs, Caldwell, Whitehead, Robinson, Gray (Elliott), Stead (Le Tallec), Murphy

Att: 38,210

Millwall 2 Sunderland 0

November 5, 2004

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sunderland’s three-game winning run in the Championship ended with a Friday night defeat at the New Den.

Just weeks after beating Millwall at the Stadium of Light, the Wearsiders succumbed to a 2-0 loss against the Lions.

Player-boss Dennis Wise broke the deadlock with a 33rd-minute penalty, and David Livermore added a killer second goal just before the break.

Millwall, who had beaten Sunderland in the FA Cup semi-final the previous season, brought on ex-SAFC striker Danny Dichio for the closing moments.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

MILLWALL: Stack, Muscat (Dunne), Livermore, Lawrence, Ward, Elliott, Wise, Phillips, Hayles (Dichio), Tessem, Simpson

SUNDERLAND: Myhre, Lynch (Whitehead), D Collins, N Collins, Caldwell, Whitley, Lawrence (Brown), Robinson, Bridges, Stewart, Arca (Carter)

Att: 10,513

Charlton Athletic 1 Sunderland 1

November 5, 1995

Sunderland made it 10 games unbeaten in Division One with a hard-fought draw at The Valley.

Shaun Newton put Charlton in front in the 11th minute, but Michael Gray equalised seven minutes later in a televised Sunday afternoon clash.

The draw kept Peter Reid’s men in fourth place.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

CHARLTON: Salmon (Ammann), Humphrey, Stuart, Chapple, Rufus, Walsh, Newton, Nelson, Robson (Grant), Leaburn, Bowyer (Jones)

SUNDERLAND: Chamberlain, Kubicki, Scott, Ball, Melville, Bracewell, Michael Gray, Ord, Kelly, Phil Gray, Russell (Aiston)

Att: 11,626

Notts County 3 Sunderland 2

November 5, 1994

Dismal Sunderland failed to capitalise on a man advantage for 50 minutes as they slipped to a miserable 3-2 Division One defeat at Notts County.

Mick Buxton’s side fell behind to Paul Devlin’s 20th-minute opener, and Andy Legg doubled the home lead seven minutes later.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Despite having centre-back Dean Yates dismissed four minutes before the break, Notts made it 3-0 early in the second half, with the lively Devlin netting again.

Two goals in five minutes midway through the half, from Phil Gray and Gary Owers, gave Sunderland a lifeline, but Notts held firm to clinch all three points, sending Sunderland down two places to 12th.

NOTTS COUNTY: Reece, Gallagher, Daniel, Turner, Yates, Johnson, Devlin, Butler, Matthews (Sherlock), Agana, Legg

SUNDERLAND: Chamberlain, Kubicki, Ord, Ball, Melville, Snodin, Owers, Rodgerson, Goodman, P Gray, Smith (Russell)

Att: 8,890

Ipswich Town 0 Sunderland 1

November 5, 1991

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Denis Smith’s side made it four Division Two games unbeaten with a welcome 1-0 victory at Portman Road.

Gordon Armstrong grabbed the only goal seven minutes before the break in a midweek clash which attracted a crowd of less than 10,000.

The victory took Sunderland up two places to 13th.

IPSWICH TOWN: Forrest, Yallop (Johnson), Thompson, Linighan, Wark, Stockwell, Milton (Edmonds), Moncur, Whitton, Dozzell, Kiwomya

SUNDERLAND: Norman, Kay, Rogan, Ball, Bennett, Bracewell, Rush, Pascoe, Davenport, Byrne, Armstrong

Att: 9,768

Sunderland 1 Stoke City 1

November 5, 1988

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sunderland had to fight back for a point to extend their unbeaten Second Division run to six.

Striker Graham Shaw gave Stoke the early boost of a seventh-minute opener, but, in a typically hard-fought clash, Sunderland deservedly drew level eight minutes into the second half, thanks to a rare strike from midfielder Steve Doyle.

The draw kept Denis Smith’s newly-promoted side in eighth place.

SUNDERLAND: Hesford, F Gray, Agboola (Bennett), Ord, MacPhail, Doyle, Owers, Armstrong, Gabbiadini, Whitehurst, Pascoe

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

STOKE CITY: Fox, Ford, Carr, Kamara, Higgins, Berry, Hackett, Henry, Shaw, Stainrod (Gidman), Beagrie

Att: 17,923

Arsenal 1 Sunderland 2

November 5, 1983

Alan Durban’s Red and Whites served up a tremendous three points from a hard-earned victory at Highbury.

It made it three wins in a row against the Gunners, and seven unbeaten since returning to the top flight in 1980.

Boosted by a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest in the previous game, Sunderland started brightly and were rewarded by a third-minute opener from Colin West.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ian Atkins hit a rare goal to double the lead on 56 minutes and though Tony Woodcock pulled one back almost immediately, the well-organised visitors defended stoutly to seal all three points.

ARSENAL: Jennings, Robson, Sansom, Whyte, Adams, Hill, Sunderland (McDermott), Talbot, Woodcock, Nicholas, Rix

SUNDERLAND: Turner, Venison, Pickering, Atkins, Chisholm, Elliott, Bracewell, Rowell, West, Proctor, James

Att: 26,064

West Ham Utd 2 Sunderland 1

November 5, 1979

Sunderland exited the League Cup in a thrilling fourth round replay at Upton Park in an all-Second Division clash.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The visitors opened well and led with a seventh-minute strike from Alan Brown, who had scored the opener in the 1-1 Roker Park draw in the original tie, only for centre-back Alvin Martin to head the Hammers level two minutes later.

David Cross bagged the home winner four minutes into the second half.

WEST HAM: Parkes, Stewart, Lampard, Bonds, Martin, Holland, Allen, Pike, Cross, Brooking (Landsdowne), Devonshire

SUNDERLAND: Siddall, Whitworth, Gilbert, Clarke, Hindmarch, Elliott, Arnott, Lee, Brown, Robson, Rowell

Att: 30,302

Fulham 3 Sunderland 3

November 5, 1977

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sunderland failed to hold on for victory in a cracking Second Division game at Craven Cottage, with the Match of the Day cameras seeing Teddy Maybank grab a last-gasp Fulham leveller.

John Mitchell gave the Londoners an early lead, but Roy Greenwell levelled on the half hour before the legendary George Best restored the home advantage just before half-time.

Gary Rowell equalised at 2-2 on 73 minutes, then Kevin Arnott stunned the home crowd by putting Sunderland ahead four minutes later. But Maybank had the last word, denying Jimmy Adams’s Rokermen a fourth successive league win,

FULHAM: Peyton, Evans, Strong, Bullivant, Lacy, James, Best, Margerrison, Mitchell, Maybank, Evanson

SUNDERLAND: Siddall, Henderson, Bolton, Kerr, Elliott, Ashurst, Rostron, Arnott, Greenwood, Lee, Rowell

Att: 10,548