On This Day (2nd March 1991): A Whole Season Summed Up In One Game!

Back on this day in 1991, Sunderland threw away a three-goal lead at the Baseball Ground.

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On This Day (2nd March 1991): A Whole Season Summed Up In One Game!

[Dean Saunders, Derby County (Photo by Neal Simpson/EMPICS via Getty Images) | PA Images via Getty Images]

Dean Saunders, Derby County (Photo by Neal Simpson/EMPICS via Getty Images) | PA Images via Getty Images

Chris Wynn

Mon, March 2, 2026 at 6:00 AM UTC·
5 min read

It might have been bloody infuriating at times, but we couldn’t help being bloody proud of the Lads in our relegation scrap during 1990-91.

It may have been down to how we were promoted, or the fact that two years earlier we’d just got ourselves out of the Third Division for the first time, or maybe it was because we played some pretty good football at times. Week after week, we took the plaudits from talking heads on the TV or in the national newspapers for the way we played. It began on the opening day at Norwich City, where we came from two-down, only to concede a late goal and lose.

Later in the season in early-December we travelled to White Hart Lane to take on Terry Venables Spurs side with Paul Gascoigne in midfield and Paul Stewart partnering Gary Lineker up front, and we were two-up after twenty-two minutes – but were pegged back, then took the lead again before throwing it away as we attacked in the last minute that led to a Lineker equaliser at the death.

The whole season was peppered with the loss of points in this fashion, and there was probably no better example than the game that occurred back on this day in 1991.

Due to the resizing of the top flight up to twenty-two teams from twenty, only two sides were to be relegated from Division One and with twelve games remaining, the table was tight. Seven points separated Nottingham Forest in 11th down to Sheffield United, who were second bottom, and they were locked on twenty-five points with four teams, which included Sunderland.

Rock bottom of the table, six points worse off than those four clubs fighting it out, were Derby County, who were managed by Bob Stokoe’s right-hand man in the 1973 FA Cup triumph, Arthur Cox.

It was perhaps even more surprising they were in the position they were, as they had England legend Peter Shilton in goal, one of England’s World Cup heroes, Mark Wright at the back, and boasted a strike force of Sunderland-born Mick Harford and highly-rated Dean Saunders.

But they were struggling, and hadn’t won since they travelled to Roker Park at the beginning of December and goals from Harford and Saunders saw them take a 2-1 win. They had also smashed the Lads 6-0 at the Baseball Ground in the League Cup – so this was Sunderland’s chance to get one over on Cox’s side.

The game wasn’t even a minute old before it stopped again, however. This was due to Harford doing his thing on Paul Hardyman, which knocked the Sunderland defender out cold – Richard Ord was the man to replace him.

With around ten minutes of the game gone, the Lads drew first blood – well, maybe Harford did that, but you know what I mean. It was Gordon Armstrong who brilliantly won the ball back in Derby’s half by pressing on the front foot, and after a one-two with Peter Davenport, he was in the box and drove the ball into the bottom corner.

Within five minutes of taking the lead, Sunderland got a second. This time a reverse cross by Paul Bracewell found Kevin Ball, who took the ball on his chest before crossing with his left foot on the half volley, which made its way to the back post, where Marco Gabbiadini stooped to score a diving header to score his tenth of the season.

[Dean Saunders Derby County]

Dean Saunders Derby County

On twenty-three minutes, it got even better! Ord lofted a free-kick from the halfway line into the area, and Wright could only head away to Ball on the edge of the area, who took the ball down before rifling a half volley into the corner of the net. Three-up and still more than twenty minutes of the first half left to go… it doesn’t get much better than that… does it?!

This is where Saunders steps in, and for those young enough to listen to him on Talksport now and didn’t see him play, will have to believe me that around this time, he was a quality striker, but at the same time, Sunderland’s insistence on playing on the front foot would get them into trouble.

By half-time, it was 2-3, and both had come from long balls over the top that caught the Lads high up the pitch. Crucially, the second came on the stroke of half-time, which provided even more belief to the home crowd.

The third came fifteen minutes from time and came from another long ball over the top that set Saunders through on goal. This time, the Welsh international attempted to round Tony Norman, but he was brought down, and the referee pointed to the spot. Saunders would beat his Welsh teammate with the penalty to secure a point for Derby.

Despite Derby finishing on ten points adrift at the bottom of the table and the fact that they only won five games all season, Saunders scored 17 league goals that season. Unsurprisingly, interest was high with Ron Atkinson trying to take him to Villa and Clough trying to seal his signature for Forest, but in the end it would be Graeme Souness who paid an English record fee of £2.9m to take him to Liverpool following the departures of David Speedie and Peter Beardsley.

Saturday 2nd March, 1991

Barclays League Division One

Derby County 3-3 Sunderland

[Saunders 37’, 45’, (pen) 75’ – Armstrong 11’, Gabbiadini 16’, Ball 23’]

Baseball Ground

Sunderland: Norman, Owers, Bennett, Ball, Hardyman (Ord), Mooney, Bracewell, Armstrong, Pascoe, Davenport, Gabbiadini. Substitute not used: Hawke

Derby County: Shilton, Sage, Cross, Williams, Wright, Forsyth, Micklewhite, Wilson, Harford, Saunders, McMinn. Substitutes not used: Williams, Hebberd

Attendance: 16,027

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