On 30th January 1935, Everton beat Sunderland 6-4 after extra time in an epic FA Cup match, often regarded as Goodison Park’s greatest ever match. However, it wasn’t the only entertaining match between the two sides in the 1930s. Just over a year later, on 7th March 1936 at Roker Park, the two sides met in the First Division in a game that made Everton history.

This game was the second meeting between Everton and Sunderland since the 6-4 epic. Their last meeting was a 3-0 win for Sunderland at Goodison Park the previous November. Sunderland were dominating the league in the 1935/36 season. Up until this game, Sunderland were 8 points clear at the top of the table. Everton, meanwhile, were in a relegation battle where 5 points separated 8th and bottom. Sunderland had the most wins in the league while Everton had the fewest. Although, it could have been a lot worse for Everton. At Christmas, they were second from bottom on goal average. 1 defeat in 11 league games since helped steady the ship a bit. The referee was Ernest Pinckston, who was the same referee in the famous meeting you all know about by now.

Sunderland – Matt Middleton, Tom Morrison, Alex Hall, Charlie Thomson, Cecil Hornby, Alex Hastings, Len Duns, Raich Carter, Bobby Gurney, Patsy Gallacher, Jimmy Connor

Everton – Ted Sagar, Billy Cook, Jack Jones, Joe Mercer, Tommy White, Jock Thomson, Albert Geldard, Nat Cunliffe, Dixie Dean, Alex Stevenson, Torry Gillick

Hat-trick hero Jackie Coulter missed the game (and the whole season) after suffering a serious leg injury the previous March. He sustained it during a British Home Championship match between Ireland and Wales and it was caused by an accidental collision with Everton teammate Ben Williams. Williams made a clearance but Coulter slipped and went into his clubmate with the Irishman coming off worse. According to the Liverpool Evening Express, Coulter was “lying in the arms of Williams like a baby.” He had a fractured tibia and didn’t play until he featured in an Everton ‘A’ match a couple of weeks before this game.

The match sprung into life after just 30 seconds with 19-year-old Len Duns breaking the deadlock in Sunderland’s favour thanks to a mishap from the Everton defence. Jack Jones attempted to clear the ball but as soon as he kicked it, Jock Thomson got in his way and the ball hit Thomson and fell kindly to Duns, who subsequently converted with a low, right-foot shot. The worst possible start for the Blues. Although, they came close to equalising early on. Thomson hoped to make amends for his error with a long-range shot but it was saved by Matt Middleton. Middleton can only parry the ball away and into the feet of Nat Cunliffe but sadly, he put it wide. And things got worse for Everton.

After just 12 minutes, Sunderland doubled their lead with their second attack of the game. Billy Cook fouled Jimmy Connor just outside the box, and Alex Hastings lifted the ball goalward. The ball was going towards Ted Sagar but he uncharacteristically misjudged the flight of the ball and and let it slip through his hands. The ball heading towards the back of the net and Bobby Gurney made sure of it.

Everton had a chance to halve the deficit. Alex Stevenson hit a through ball in Dixie Dean’s path. Matt Middleton rushed out and was poised to collect the ball. Dean could have gone for it but decided to allow Middleton to grab the ball. According to the Liverpool Evening Express, Dixie Dean was applauded by the crowd, presumably because of what happened to the recently departed Sunderland goalkeeper Jimmy Thorpe. Thorpe died from heart failure while in a diabetic coma just over a month before the game after being kicked repeatedly in the head and the chest by three Chelsea players while having hold of the ball. In those days, goalkeepers had almost zero protection – goals were commonly scored by players barging into goalkeepers with the ball in their grasp and forcing them into the goal.

After around half an hour, Sunderland were 3-0 up. Raich Carter passed the ball towards Bobby Gurney, who was adjudged to have been in an offside position. Gurney left the ball alone and allowed Carter to come through with the Everton defence too focused on appealing for offside. No offside was given and Carter was through on goal. Ted Sagar came out of his goal in an attempt to stop the prolific forward but Carter dribbled round him and took advantage of the gaping goal to score his 28th league goal of the season. Considering the gulf between the two teams that season, it looked like Everton were heading towards a humiliating defeat.

Sunderland could have extended their lead with Len Duns twice having the chance to grab Sunderland’s fourth but couldn’t convert. Everton, on the other head, could have cut the deficit to two but Albert Geldard hit the crossbar. Alex Stevenson had a chance himself but his first-time shot went into the crowd. Pinckston then blew the whistle for half-time – Sunderland 3-0 Everton.

In the second half, Sunderland had another chance to grab a fourth goal – Jimmy Connor failed to convert Bobby Gurney’s cross, hitting the ball over the bar. Everton had another chance to reduce the deficit – Dixie Dean kicked a long through ball to Nat Cunliffe but his shot went straight to Matt Middleton. Then Sunderland had a crucial chance but once again, that elusive fourth goal was not scored. Len Duns had the best chance since Sunderland’s last goal and probably should have made it 4-0. He was one-on-one with Ted Sagar but Sagar managed to save his shot and kept Everton in the game. A save that later proved to be very vital in an eventful second half.

Everton made a change to their line-up with Nat Cunliffe and Alex Stevenson switching positions. Sunderland, however, made five. An injury to Cecil Hornby meant the Black Cats felt forced to switch a few players around in order to accommodate Hornby’s injury. While Hornby moved from centre half to the forward line in outside left, other changes included Alex Hastings filling Hornby’s previous role from left half and, rather questionably, Raich Carter moving back from the forward line to left half. Hastings moving to Hornby’s position was also quite questionable as Hastings himself had a couple of knocks during the game.

Sunderland’s disjointedness with the rearrangements quickly became evident as Everton made it 3-1 on the hour mark with their own rearrangement becoming a success. Joe Mercer passed the ball to Nat Cunliffe and he converted with a low shot that Matt Middleton couldn’t stop. Everton nearly made it 3-2 only a minute later. A foul on Cunliffe by Patsy Gallacher enabled Jock Thomson to place the ball into the box and a crowd of players fought and struggled to get possession of the ball. Albert Geldard managed to shoot but his shot was cleared off the line by Alex Hastings. The disappointment of not grabbing a second goal lasted only a couple of minutes as Everton got themselves right back into this game with the best goal of the game. Geldard passed to Alex Stevenson on the edge of the box and he made up for his miss before half-time by placing the ball into the far corner of the net to make it 3-2.

Cecil Hornby’s injury was proving to be the turning point in this game and Everton completed the comeback after 75 minutes thanks to (who else?) Dixie Dean. Dean levelled things up by converting a cross by Torry Gillick. But it didn’t stop there. Everton could have won the game. Albert Geldard passed the ball to Alex Stevenson and Stevenson had the chance to make it 4-3 but he mistimed his shot. Gillick also could have made it 4-3 – his shot beat Matt Middleton but it went a yard wide of the goal.

Ernest Pinckston blew the whistle for full-time and the final score was the same scoreline in normal time of the famous FA Cup meeting the previous year – Sunderland 3-3 Everton.

Everton avoided defeat after losing by 3 goals at half-time for the first time in the club’s history. It only happened again once since, against Tottenham in April 1992. The comeback was slightly besmirched by Pinckston’s performance. Various newspapers criticised the referee for reasons such as continuously lecturing players when unnecessary and holding up the game doing so and being a bit handsy after he placed his hand on Alex Hastings while cautioning him. Nonetheless, a thrilling 90 minutes for the 23,268 spectators.

Sunderland subsequently became First Division champions for the sixth (and last) time – at the time, the joint-most league titles in English football history with Aston Villa. Meanwhile, Everton avoided relegation by 4 points, thanks to 5 wins from their remaining 10 games.