On This Day (2 May 1981): Survival Secured As The Lads Win At Anfield!

It was Sunderland’s last real chance, although Alan Brown and Rowell sent headers over the bar, but at the same time, Liverpool never looked like pulling a goal back.

At the start of the day, everyone thought that Sunderland’s poor away form would be the death of them, but they also didn’t expect a Liverpool side lacking some experienced players, and some actually on the pitch, such as Terry McDermott and Ray Kennedy, whose minds were clearly elsewhere.

They still had two league games left and a European Cup Final to prepare for, which I suppose is some indication of where their minds were at. Compare that to a Sunderland team that had a steely determination and a fighting attitude that saw them achieve their first victory at Anfield for twenty years.

Shaun Elliott Sunderland 1979

The Lads did come in for a mini-siege late on, but Rob Hindmarch and Shaun Elliott were outstanding and the final statistics will show that Sunderland had seven corners to Liverpool’s two, and that Barry Siddall wasn’t forced into a serious save in the whole game.

Early on, there were signs that Liverpool weren’t willing to match the aggression of the four Sunderland midfielders strung across the pitch, with the exception of Alan Hansen, who had a good game, and just two minutes before Cummins’ goal, had played a one-two with Ray Kennedy and fired his shot against the bar from twenty five yards.

The Black Cats’ tough tackling and covering made sure there were very few chances for Liverpool for most of the game. The only other scare came just before half time when Hindmarch flattened Howard Gayle in the box, but luckily the referee deemed it worthy of a word for the defender, and not a penalty.

The second half action was limited, but not off the pitch as other scores filtered through from Norwich and Leicester.

As it turned out, and against the odds, Sunderland had decided their own destiny.

In hindsight, if the Lads had lost, we would’ve still stayed up on goal difference, but they weren’t to know this. Norwich — who finished third bottom — had lost at home to second-bottom Leicester and it was a very sweet moment for the 6,000 travelling fans that deserved top flight football.

The survival boosted Mick Docherty’s chances of getting the manager’s job as Tom Cowie had sacked Ken Knighton and Frank Clark four games earlier. However, the brilliant result perhaps shouldn’t be allowed to paper over some large cracks, as it was achieved against a below-par Liverpool team and there would be a lot of work to do to avoid being in a similar position in twelve months’ time.

2 May 1981

Football League Division One

Anfield

Liverpool 0

Sunderland 1 (Cummins)

Sunderland: Siddall, Hindmarch, Hinnagan; Bolton, Elliott, Chisholm (Allardyce); Rowell, Buckley, Cummins; Ritchie, Brown