Manchester City v Sunderland 1990/91

 CITY 3 SUNDERLAND 2

League Division 1

11th May 1991

Attendance 39,194

Scorers
City Quinn(10 & 45), White(90)
Sunderland Gabbiadini(40), Bennett(44)

Ref A Gunn

City Margetson, Hill, Pointon, Harper, Heath, Hendry, Redmond, White, Brennan, Quinn, Clarke – subs Beckford(69), A Ward(unused)

Sunderland Norman, Owers, Hardyman, Bennett, Ord, Pascoe, Bracewell, Hawke, Davenport, Gabbiadini, Kay – subs Brady(23), Hauser(70)

REPORT FROM THE CITY MAGAZINE MARCH 2003
Finishing the season with a game effecting the relegation places and having Luton Town involved in the dogfight are ingredients to make even the most hardened City supporter turn towards the drinks cabinet. David Pleat and Raddy Antic still hold an unwelcome place in City folklore after all these years.
However, on Saturday, May 11 1991, a funny thing happened. City entered the last weekend of the season well clear of relegation worries and found themselves deep in a plot that offered them an unusually nerveless cameo role. Sunderland it was who arrived in the relegation spotlight on this occasion, as the Blues wrapped up a magnificent season, under Peter Reid and Sam Ellis, on the edge of the UEFA Cup places for the first time in well over a decade.
The achievement was all the more impressive when it is taken into account that Reid had only taken on this his first job at managerial level after Howard Kendall had jumped ship to Goodison Park the previous December.
The Wearsiders arrived at Maine Road needing a win to take them above Luton coupled with The Hatters slipping‘ up at home to Derby County. Ironically, City had relegated the Rams two weeks previously in the famous ‘Niall Quinn Game’, where the Irishman scored and then replaced Tony Coton in goal and saved a penalty from Dean Saunders.
This was the kind of afternoon made for City. Maine Road was heaving with the attendance just a fraction under 40,000. A huge 8,000-strong partly fancy dressed contingent from Sunderland added to the carnival atmosphere inside the ground.
In a pulsating first half both sides netted twice. Niall Quinn, ending a prolific season of goals and dominant front play, put City ahead after only 10 minutes. It was almost half time before Sunderland recovered, but they did so in style, Marco Gabbiadini heading in at the end of a sweeping move up the left then City old boy Gary Bennett headed one in at the back post after a huge scramble in the Blues’ box.
With the Sunderland hordes hanging onto the fencing at the front of the Platt Lane stand, the atmosphere was electric. A reporter at Luton told those listening to radios “If l tell you that Mick Harford has scored here…” and the crowd rose again, only to find that the Derby forward had scored in his own net to put Luton one up!
As the atmosphere amongst the away fans shifted, Quinn burst onto a loose ball in the Sunderland area and hammered a low shot past Norman to even the scores once more.
It seemed that the old ground would pop, such was the pandemonium. In the space of five minutes Sunderland had equalised, gone ahead, seen Luton score and then conceded one themselves. It was cruel on Sunderland but typical of the never-say-die attitude that the City of Peter Reid’s 4stewardship possessed. Reid had started the game with Quinn, David White and Wayne Clarke up front, in an attempt to have the same effect as the fortnight before when City had knocked in five at Villa Park. His robust tactics provided the spectators with fulsome entertainment.
The ground buzzed throughout the half time break, as supporters gathered themselves for the next instalment. Try as they might, Sunderland were unable to find a way through in the second period. Both Gabbiadini and Davenport found their paths blocked by heroic keeping from City stand-in Martyn Margetson and, as time ticked by, they became aware that the game and with it their top flight status, was all but over.
One final surge forward by City brought the reward their football deserved. As the ball arrived at the feet of Adrian Heath wide on
the right, he chipped a cross up to the far post, where the incoming David White tucked it away with his head, colliding with the post in the process to send Maine Road into a frenzy. The late winner took City to fifth in the table, one place above United for the first time in more than a decade.
Both sets of supporters graciously swapped shirts and scarves as around 20,000 fans remained in the ground singing songs happily for well over half-an-hour.