ON THIS DAY

They say that when you are down nothing seems to go your way and that certainly seemed to be true for Sunderland back in the 2002/03 season. Bottom of the Premier League on 1st February 2003 they were up against Charlton Athletic at the Stadium of Light. Remarkably Sunderland scored 3 goals in 7 first half minutes through Stephen Wright and Michael Proctor (2) - but the most remarkable thing was all three were own goals! Sunderland did score one at the right end in the second half - a penalty - but bottom of the table they remained. Did they do any better in the remaining 12 Premier League they played to the end of the season? No - they lost all 12.

A record-equalling high scoring day in the Football League with 209 goals being recorded in the 44 matches played. These included a 12-0 win for Chester over York City and Chesterfield beating Crewe Alexandra 6-5 away. In addition to Chesterfield there were 6 goals each for Coventry, Walsall, Watford, West Brom and West Ham and six more clubs scored 5 apiece.