Rowell Report: Sam Allardyce's last kick for Sunderland was a 1-0 win at Liverpool

I'm proud of being a member of the last Sunderland team to win at Anfield, along with current assistant boss Paul Bracewell.
Sam Allardyce.Sam Allardyce.
Sam Allardyce.

But I’m going to Anfield on Saturday desperately hoping the current side do it, especially as we need the points so badly.

It was back in October 1983 that we got that victory, and I never thought for a moment that I would go back to Anfield so many times since that day, still waiting to see Sunderland win,

I want that to change this weekend.

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The 1-0 scoreline was exactly the result that our manager Alan Durban loved. He liked nothing better than clean sheets, especially away from home, and that game ticked every box for him, especially as it was a backs-to-the-wall battling performance.

We’d also beaten Liverpool at Anfield two years earlier and this was a time when Liverpool dominated Europe, so those two victories are special highlights from my career.

Sam Allardyce was involved in that first game, coming off the bench late on and older Sunderland fans will remember it as the more memorable of the two wins, as it was on the last day of the season and we beat the drop.

There were great celebrations afterwards, legendary Liverpool boss Bob Paisley came in our dressing room and congratulated us which was a class touch from a giant of the game who was a Sunderland fan as a boy.

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That was Big Sam’s last competitive appearance for Sunderland. He was sold on to Millwall and who’d have known then when he left Roker Park that one day he’d be back calling the shots as manager.

When Sam and Brace lead the team at Anfield on Saturday, they can both do it in the knowledge that they have won there as Sunderland players and hopefully they can do the same thing on Saturday as the management team.