Matchday Memories: On This Day 1999 – See Strachan’s Sky Blues Score Stalemate At Sunderland
Gordon the Gaffer
On this day (29th August) in 1999 the Sky Blues ‘gaffer’ Gordon Strachan was not having a good start to the 1999-2000 season having lost 1-0 both at Highfield Road in the opener to Southampton and also at Leicester City‘s Filbert Street. A 1-1 draw at Wimbledon, salvaged thanks to a last minute Gary McAllister penalty improved matters slightly. This was followed by their first victory of the season, a 2-0 Highfield Road success (with a Robbie Keane debut brace) against Derby County giving some hope of recovery. However, last time out Strachan’s men came unstuck at Highfield Road being beaten by the odd goal in three by Manchester United.
Steve Froggatt tussles for the ball
Robbie in the Sky Blue 1999
Today the Sky Blues were on their travels to the North East to visit for the first time the Stadium of Light, home of Sunderland and were hoping for at least another point and that’s what they got in a 1-1 draw and the visitors scored with another goal from that record young Sky Blues signing Robbie Keane! Robbie, always marking his goalscoring by his trademark cartwheel, was well set up by CCFC’s Moroccan midfielder (and now CCFPA member) Youssef Chippo and found the net after 33 minutes from an acute angle to give the Sky Blues the lead.
Youssef in Sky Blue action
The reasonable number of Sky Blues fans dwarfed within the massive 39,427 crowd, had reasons to hope as the lead lasted well beyond half-time despite the fact the Black Cats dominated the second half. However, those hopes were dashed with eighteen minutes left when the Black Cats’ prolific striker Kevin Phillips found the net after 72 minutes with a hooked volley when he found himself unmarked in the box.
As scant reward for his significant influence on the game, three minutes from the final whistle, referee Steve Lodge brandished Youssef a second yellow card so he was sent off just before the finish. Sunderland were then managed by future Sky Blue ‘gaffer’ (and CCFPA member now) Peter Reid.
A contemporary report from BBC Sport can be found here.
Thanks to our former committee member Dean Nelson you can watch some match highlights by clicking on the link or image below:-
Gary McAllister bursts through
Marcus Hedman, Gary Breen, Marc Edworthy, Youssef Chippo, Paul Williams, Richard Shaw, Mustapha Hadji (Paul Telfer -76), Gary McAllister, John Aloisi (Gary McSheffrey -83), Robbie Keane and Steve Froggatt
Unused Subs:- Mo Konjic, Marcus Hall and Rafaele Nuzzo (gk)
Peter at Highfield Road
Peter Reid‘s Black Cats side lined up as follows:-
Thomas Sorensen, Chris Makin, Michael Gray, Alex Rae, Paul Butler, Steve Bould, Nicky Summerbee, Stefan Schwarz, Niall Quinn, Kevin Phillips and Gavin McCann (John Oster -72) Unused Subs:- Thomas Helmer, Danny Dichio, Kevin Ball and Andy Marriott (gk). Referee:- Steve Lodge (Barnsley)
Future Sky Blue ‘keeper in 2004 (though he never made a first team league appearance) Andy Marriott was on the Black Cats’ bench for this game
City went one better against Sunderland in mid February beating the Black Cats by the odd goal in five with Robbie Keane again on the scoresheet along with Moroccan midfielder Mustapha Hadji and young Belgian striker Cedric Roussel (Cedric was a Association member, but sadly quite recently passed away).
CCFC 1999-2000
Wimbledon were relegated at the end of the season in eighteenth spot along with Sheffield Wednesday and Watford. The Sky Blues finished eleven points clear of any similar trouble in fourteenth spot and Sunderland had a good season in seventh place! Manchester United took the title with a massive lead of eighteen points over runners up Arsenal.
Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young for sourcing the images.
