Division One The Valley
Sunderland 1 (0) Kirtley
Charlton 2 (1) Lock (pen), Hewie
Sunderland: Robinson, Stelling, Hudgell, McLain, Hall, Wright A, Duns, Kirtley, Ford, Shackleton, McSeveney
Att: 22,853
League Position after match: 20th
Harry Kirtley was one of the understudies to a team of stars, but by all accounts he generally gave a good performance when called on. He eventually gave up trying to force his way into our first team, and moved on to Cardiff.
Our third defeat of the season in London (all of which, it should be noted, Shackleton played in) - we had only managed four wins out of the first 16 games.
Division One Upton Park
Sunderland 0 (0)
West Ham 1 (0) Cottee
Sunderland: Turner, Venison, Pickering, Chisholm (Gayle), Bennett, Elliott, Hodgson, Berry, West, Proctor, Walker
Att: 15,204
League Position after match: 12th
Another away defeat - but still in the League Cup, and before this game we were in the top half of the table, eight points clear of a relegation place.
Lots of people seemed to think that this was a massive improvement on the Durban relegation-avoidance era...