On This Day (25th Nov 2000): Smart Alex Hits The Spot For Sunderland

Most people that read this article will have most likely watched the infamous Play-Off final between Sunderland and Charlton Athletic in 1998, and the story of the game and how it ended will have been passed down to every Lads fan that has been born since.

The manner of the loss puts the match right at the top of ‘all time Sunderland heartbreaks’ list, and yet there is a school of thought that says missing out on promotion was possibly a good thing for the club in the long term. Whether you agree or not is another matter, but there is certainly some sense in the suggestion, as in the following years the team returned to break a boatload of records and in establishing themselves in the topflight for a period gave supporters some of their best memories of more recent times.

In the meantime, Charlton Athletic got themselves relegated before immediately bouncing back up, so this clash between the two sides was the first meeting since that fateful day at Wembley. Under Peter Reid Sunderland had moved on from the trauma at the national stadium yet there was still a nagging itch that it would be nice to get one over the Addicks on their own patch – particularly as they were still unbeaten at home since coming back up.

Hopes of a Black Cats win had increased on the back of another memorable game in their last outing, when Newcastle United were beaten on their own patch due to another penalty moment from a home town boy. That incident had seen Tommy Sørensen take centre stage and cement his place in folklore, but there was to be another special moment back in the capital and this time it came from one of the men that had featured against Athletic in the promotion decider, Alex Rae.

The Scot was enjoying a good run in the side and was part of an unchanged starting XI at The Valley. The line up meant that Julio Arca had to be content with a place on the bench therefore, this coming on the day news had broken that he would be away from the club for around a month having been selected to captain the Argentina Under 20 squad in a preliminary tournament that fed into the U20 World Cup. The break would have been longer too had Sunderland not been able to negotiate with the Argentinian FA about his release from some warm-up fixtures, but despite being subbed on at St. James’ Park Arca had to watch the entirety of this latest match from the sidelines.

Although no doubt upset to miss out, he can’t have failed to be impressed by the performance served up by his teammates. Supporters in the Jimmy Seed away stand, named after Charlton’s County Durham born FA Cup winning manager, were thrilled also by what they witnessed, with Sunderland clearly the better side throughout the afternoon. It was Michael Gray of all people that put them on the front foot after less than 25 seconds, his ball forward seeing Don Hutchison flash just wide from distance, and from that point it was full steam ahead.

The Lads looked set to take the lead shortly before half time when first Kevin Kilbane hit the bar with a curled attempt and then Kevin Phillips’ rebound strike was saved on the line, but it would not be long until the deadlock was broken, and the shot was well worth waiting for. Rae, dismissed for picking up a second yellow the last time Sunderland had visited Charlton, was determined to light up the dark, damp autumnal sky and after going close with an ambitious scissor-kick he found the target with a blistering goal from almost nothing. Collecting a loose ball and finding himself 30 yards out he unleashed a sensational left foot thunderbolt that sailed into the corner of Dean Kiely’s net and became only the fourth league effort conceded by the hosts so far that season.

Back in 1993 Sunderland had been the first away side to beat Charlton since their return to The Valley, picking up a 1-0 win, but they knew that to repeat history they would need to see out a potentially tense final third of the game. The home team did indeed try to build up a head of steam but found themselves shackled and if anything, it was Reid’s men that looked the most dangerous, meaning that when the full-time whistle blew, they had overtaken their opponents in the top half of the table.

Saturday 25 November 2000 | FA Carling Premiership

Charlton Athletic 0 Sunderland 1 (Rae 57’)

Sunderland: Sørensen; Makin, Craddock, Thome, Gray; Hutchison, Williams, Rae, Kilbane; Quinn (Dichio 81’), Phillips Unused: Macho, Varga, Arca, Oster

The Valley, attendance 20,043