On This Day (10th February 1951): Sunderland march into quarter-final of the FA Cup!

As they struggled in Division One, Bill Murray's "Bank of England" side only had Third Division Norwich City between them and a place in the quarter-final of the FA Cup.

Although Johnny Cochrane had finished 16th in Division One in his final season as manager, it would still be a daunting task to replace the man who claimed the league title in 1935-36, still our last one to date, and then won the FA Cup a year later.

To make things more difficult for Bill Murray who took charge at Roker, was that war broke out in his first season which would have been the 1939-40 season, meaning he led a very different side in his actual opening season which would be 1946-47.

These years immediately after the war saw Sunderland spend big, with stars like Ivor Broadis, Trevor Ford and Len Shackleton arriving at Roker for big fees, which would attract the tag of the "Bank of England club" on Sunderland at the time. But despite the big spending, Murray couldn't find the right formula and had finishes of 9th, 20th, and 8th in his first three seasons.

In 1949-50, the Lads finished 3rd and only one point behind champions Portsmouth, who won the title on goal difference to Wolverhampton Wanderers, meaning there was optimism that the club could kick on, but it wasn't to be. After winning the opening game at Roker 1-0 against Derby County, it had the look of a disastrous season.

On This Day (10th February 1951): Sunderland march into quarter-final of the FA Cup!

In mid-December, after a 6-5 defeat in the reverse fixture at the Baseball Ground, the Lads had won only four games from 21 and were 19th in the table. Three successive victories in the league followed to settle the nerves before a 2-0 win over second-division Coventry City in the third round of the cup in early January reminded the club there was silverware still to play for.

Another home tie against another Division Two outfit in the form of Southampton was beaten in the fourth round, and when yet another home draw pitted us against Third Division Norwich City in the fifth round a place in the quarter-final was looking good.

In the days before substitutes, Murray's squad of stars was giving him headaches when he would have to leave one of his big-name forwards out of the side and it was likely it would be fit again Broadis who would miss out with Murray stating:

How could I drop Dicky Davis after the grand games he has been playing? He has been playing far too well to do that, and, after all, the team has been winning.

Norwich weren't on Wearside to make up the numbers, it was a big tie in a golden era for the FA Cup and five special trains carried 5,000 City fans "wearing hats shaped as canaries" to Sunderland for the tie. There were also 37 special trains bringing in 18,000 supporters "from Tyneside and the mining area of Durham County".

The Division One side were on top from the off and wasted a host of chances before Dickie Davis opened the scoring on 22 minutes as described in the Coventry Evening Telegraph:

Davis lobbed the ball onto goal from the right flank and there was evidently some spin on the ball, for when Nethercott got hold of it, it spun over his shoulder, and although he grabbed the ball again it was obviously well over the line and the referee gave Sunderland a goal.

This was a blow for the away side and after this point, it was a case of Sunderland wasting opportunities, but with around 25 minutes left on the clock, Willie Watson steadied the nerves by adding a second with a run that beat three Norwich players before he finished.

Fifteen minutes later the game was put out of sight when Ford put Tommy Wright through on goal to increase the lead to three. Norwich pulled one back a couple of minutes later and in summary, the game was reported as:

Sunderland were well worth their victory, but Norwich were certainly not disgraced.

The reward for reaching the quarter-final of the FA Cup for the eighth time in the club's history to this point was another home tie at Roker, but this time it was opposition from the top flight in the form of Wolverhampton Wanderers.