ON THIS DAY (9 JAN 1993): WINGER NETS FIRST SUNDERLAND GOAL – TWO YEARS AFTER SIGNING!
Brian Mooney arrived at Roker Park in February 1991, billed as the attacker who could spark Sunderland’s attack and help the club stave off the potential threat of relegation. The 25-year-old right winger had come through the ranks at Liverpool earning rave reviews at youth team level and playing for the first team in a league cup tie at Fulham for Liverpool, however breaking into what was possibly the best club side in the world in at the time would have been a challenge for anyone.
Keen for first-team football, Mooney had a loan spell at Wrexham before joining Preston North End. He excelled at Deepdale, making a name for himself as one of the most exciting players outside of the top flight. Ron Atkinson had taken him to Sheffield Wednesday on a three-month loan with the intention of signing him, but injuries curtailed his time at Hillsborough. After Mooney had returned to Preston and proved his fitness, Denis Smith pounced, hoping the Irish winger – who’d been called up to the national squad prior to Italia 90 – would be the key to unlocking First Division defences.
Smith had tried to sign Mooney three years earlier after a couple of impressive performances against Sunderland, but had been put off by the £750,000 fee that had been quoted by Preston’s then manager, John McGrath. A more palatable £225,000 had been agreed with current Deepdale boss Les Chapman, and Mooney had watched his new team mates go down 2-0 at Goodison Park, which left Sunderland in 17th place, two positions away from the relegation zone. After completing the signing, Smith said:
He has tremendous skills – the lad can play. He generally plays wide on the right, but he can also play up front, so that should put a bit of pressure on the front two. Lots of clubs have fancied him, but I’ve put my money where my mouth is. There are quite a few things that Mooney can do – he now has to show he can turn it on consistently at a higher level.
However, sadly for Smith, Mooney didn’t prove to be the ingredient Sunderland were lacking in 1990-91 (Ally McCoist, who was out of favour at Rangers and strongly linked with a move at the same time as Mooney, would surely have been a far better signing in the circumstances), and primarily due to a foot injury picked up in a win over relegation rivals Luton, he managed just five top flight starts as the club suffered relegation on the last day at Maine Road.
Fast forward two years from Mooney’s arrival, and Smith was long gone. After five games in his first season, Mooney had made only six starts in Division Two during the 1991-92 campaign – a perennial struggle with that injury picked up on Kenilworth Road’s plastic pitch meant he was rarely in contention for a game; his league appearances that campaign were at the tail end, with caretaker manager Malcolm Crosby desperately trying to manage a heavy fixture list ahead of an FA Cup Final appearance against Liverpool.
The following season was a struggle once more for Mooney, and the club as a whole. Crosby’s spell in charge wasn’t yielding the results he needed, and with Sunderland in the lower reaches of the division and struggling for form, a fit-again Mooney earned a recall prior to Christmas – and put together a good run of performances.
Ahead of a game that took place against Cambridge United on this day in 1993, Crosby’s assistant manager Bobby Ferguson was excited about what Mooney was – finally – bringing to the table.
It’s like having a new signing. I saw him in the reserves’ first game of the season and he seemed to have everything. Before the game at Luton, I said to him, ‘Anybody can get into the first team – the hard part is staying there. He’s told me that’s what he wants to do, so now he’s got to go out there, be positive, and make the most of what he’s got.
Sunderland, with Mooney playing an increasingly important role, had ended the year with just one defeat in six, and were looking up rather than down. Cambridge, who were managed by former Sunderland skipper Ian Atkins, were viewed as relegation candidates – but despite former manager John Beck’s departure, they still had a reputation for being a tough, aggressive, long-ball team. This was a game Sunderland, with Mooney hitting his straps, were expecting to win to kickstart a run to the playoffs.
The lads lined up in an unchanged 4-4-2, with a defence of John Kay, Kevin Ball, Terry Butcher and Richard Ord playing in front of Tony Norman. Mooney lined up on the right wing, with youngster Micky Gray on the left, amd Gordon Armstrong and Shaun Cunnington playing in the centre. Up front, David Rush partnered Don Goodman.
For the visitors, meanwhile, notable names in their line-up were former Sunderland centre back Micky Heathcote, and striker Steve Claridge.
But, it was Mooney, building on some excellent performances, who stole the show – setting up two and scoring one in an eventful 3-3 draw.
On his day, Mooney was the stereotypical tricky winger. He was a bit scruffy, had slouched shoulders, wasn’t particularly pacey but could turn defenders inside out – and this was his best day in a Sunderland shirt.
After a couple of chances at either end, Mooney took this game by the scruff of the neck. He cleverly set up a shooting opportunity for big-money signing Cunnington, whose effort was deflected behind for a corner. From that corner, Cunnington’s header was cleared off the line for another corner. Armstrong took it, and Mooney’s fierce shot was deflected in to make it 1-0.
The lead lasted only a few moments. This Sunderland team weren’t the most defensively resolute, and Clayton equalised with a low drive into the bottom corner.
Mooney had another effort as the lads looked to regain the lead, but after carrying the ball forward dangerously his shot from distance failed to trouble keeper Vaughan. Seven minutes before the break, however, Sunderland went in front – David Rush was the scorer, Mooney the architect. The Irishman cut inside before sending over a perfect cross for the young striker to head home.
Sunderland should have extended the lead before half time, Cunnington and Goodman coming close, and Rush failing to pick out an unmarked Goodman as the home team tried to seize the advantage. Mooney was causing ’endless problems’ for the Cambridge defence, and after cleverly twisting and turning he created a yard and hit a left foot drive narrowly over the bar.
The second half continued as the first half had finished, and Heathcote playing excellently against his former teammates, heading away countless crosses and deadballs – including one from Armstrong after the ever threatening Mooney was brought down after a surging run.
However, just after the hour, Cambridge equalised through Claridge from close range; Cunnington, and Goodman both came close to restoring the lead in the moments after the equaliser, as the game swung from end to end. And on 76 the lads took the lead once more – albeit in controversial circumstances. Mooney’s cross found Brian Atkinson, whose fierce shot hit the underside of the bar. The linesman flagged a goal, much to the fury of Cambridge, who were never opposed to berating the officials. The goal stood, but in the closing stages, Cambridge were back level, with Raynor shooting into the top corner.
Mooney had one goal and two assists to his name, and he almost won the game for the lads in the final exchanges – putting the ball wide from a tight angle after Rush had charged down the goalkeeper’s clearance. At the other end, meanwhile, future Millwall and Birmingham manager Gary Rowett could have claimed all three points for the U’s, but for a brilliant save from Norman. 3-3, and come the end of the season, both teams would be involved in a last-day scrap to avoid the final relegation place.
That was the highlight of Mooney’s Sunderland career. While he kept his place for a few more weeks, Crosby was sacked and Terry Butcher didn’t fancy him too much. He had a brief loan spell at Burnley – a move he was deeply opposed to given his Preston roots but Sunderland insisted upon it. Disillusioned, and aged just 27, he went back to Ireland and played out his career there.
In a 2020 interview looking back on his career, Mooney said his struggles at Sunderland were down to poor medical treatment – something that other players of the late 80s and early 90s have been critical of too.
I was playing in the first team and I broke my foot down at Luton. It was misdiagnosed. It was just a metatarsal issue, I should only have been out for eight or nine weeks and I missed a whole season over it, because they kept forcing me back a little bit early. It kept breaking. It broke four times before they X-rayed it again and acknowledged it was broken. They were trying to push me back three or four weeks after resting it and it kept breaking in the same spot.
So I just got a bit disillusioned with the whole thing then. I felt I was being treated pretty poorly. I was saying it was broken, they were saying it wasn’t. At the end of the day, it ended up being broken. I missed just over a season, so I got fed up. I was 27 at that stage and I was just thinking: ‘I don’t really want to stay over here.’
It was the orthopaedic surgeon who said that it wasn’t broken. He had acknowledged there was a break initially and then right at the end of the season, Sunderland got relegated into the old Second Division. I came back pre-season and it broke again on hard ground. They X-rayed it at that time and they said it wasn’t broken. But I’d broke it in the same place and then it broke another three or four times after that. I missed the whole season, it was very frustrating, especially when I found out it was broken all along, so I got a bit disillusioned with it. I started making plans to come home then.”
