Carlisle United have well-known injury problems today, but there is little new in football – and nearly three decades ago their manager was contemplating a similarly troubling list of bumps, bruises and strains.
It was particularly taxing for Mick Wadsworth given that United were preparing for an exciting FA Cup tie in January 1994. After disposing of non-league sides Knowsley United and Stalybridge Celtic, Carlisle had drawn Sunderland at Roker Park.
The third round game loomed midway through a Division Three season which saw the start of a stirring surge under Wadsworth. Yet on the eve of the Roker trip, the director of coaching was without defender Peter Valentine with a back problem, while Rod Thomas, Shane Reddish, David McCreery, Darren Edmondson and Tony Elliott were all fighting to be fit.
In the event on Wearside, the latter five were passed fit - with veteran goalkeeper Mervyn Day's absence leading Wadsworth to hand the gloves to 19-year-old Tony Caig, who had only made two senior appearances at that point.
It was some 20 years since the sides had last met in the cup, Carlisle defeating the then holders in 1974, and in 1994 a 5,000-strong Blue Army poured onto 12 official buses laid on by the club, with many more privately-arranged coaches taking fans to the north east.
For McCreery, the former Blues manager now in the role of player-coach, there was a rare start in midfield that season, as Wadsworth’s younger raiders set about unsettling Buxton’s home side.
In front of a 23,587 crowd, a rising United team began brightly and boldly. The visiting side did not appear overawed by the occasion and indeed gave the hosts plenty of reason to fear a shock.
In the fourth minute, for instance, they came painfully close to an opening goal, when Simon Davey’s corner was headed on by Dean Walling for record signing David Reeves, only for his header to be cleared off the line by Don Goodman.
Referee Roger Dilkes dismissed United’s arguments that the ball had crossed the line, yet Carlisle maintained their bold approach. Thomas’ trickery caused Sunderland plenty of problems, while Davey headed a Paul Conway cross over the bar.
Thomas, in the 17th minute, then jinked in from the right to hit a low shot past keeper Alec Chamberlain and against the left-hand post.
Sunderland rode their luck – but then, against the run of play, scored. The red-and-white side came out of their shells in the 31st minute and, when rookie keeper Caig struggled to get distance on a punch, Derek Ferguson sent the ball back past him and trundling into the net.
United, though, did not crumble and, as they regrouped, forced more opportunities. At their own end, Caig saved well from Phil Gray, before United went on the attack through Reeves, who shot over the bar, and Thomas, who saw an attempt blocked.
There remained a sense that Carlisle could get something out of the game and, after Reddish replaced the limping McCreery, and then George Oghani came on for Conway, a reinforced attack created the space that saw them level.
It proved a memorable moment in the emerging career of Coniston’s Edmondson, who had impressed at sweeper before breaking forward to dramatic effect in the 80th minute.
Winning the ball from Gray, Edmondson then passed to Davey before scampering up the pitch. By the time Reeves and Thomas had combined, and Tony Gallimore had seen a shot saved, the blond-haired figure of Edmondson had materialised to push home the rebound and send the teeming Roker End into uproar.
It was the latest dramatic cup goal from 22-year-old Edmondson, who had scored in the League Cup against top-flight leaders Norwich City the season before, and it sent reams of toilet roll cascading down from the terrace as United’s thousands celebrated.
Mick Buxton's Sunderland could not deny Carlisle their draw, and the 1-1 result triggered a Brunton Park replay, with a fourth round tie against Wimbledon the prize.
Once more, United showed spirit in spades and a tense, goalless Brunton Park contest went into extra-time. Alas, Carlisle finally cracked ten minutes into the added period when Lee Howey hooked in the only goal at the Waterworks End.
Wadsworth, though, described his beaten side as “magnificent”, adding, “there was not £5.5m between the two teams – we matched them in most departments.”
After United progressed to a play-off season, history repeated the following campaign, when they drew Sunderland away at the very same stage of the cup – again drawing 1-1 after a dramatic equaliser (this time from Davey) before once more going out after a replay.
That was their last meeting until 2014, when the FA Cup finally paired them again, top-flight Sunderland winning 3-1 against Graham Kavanagh’s third-tier Blues. They have met three times since, in the League Cup and Papa John’s Trophy.
Sunderland: Chamberlain, Ord, Bennett, Ferguson, Melville, Ball, Owers, Goodman, Armstrong (M Gray), P Gray, Smith. Not used: Russell, Norman.
United: Caig, Burgess, Gallimore, Walling, Joyce, Edmondson, Thomas, Conway (Oghani), Reeves, Davey, McCreery (Reddish). Not used: Elliott.
Crowd: 23,587.
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