BREAKING NEWS: Sunderland AFC shines at Germany,defeats Budapest

On this day in 1973, Sunderland won their first ever game in a major European competition, triumphing 2-0 in Budapest in the Cup Winners’ Cup, courtesy of goals by Billy Hughes and Dennis Tueart.

Of the 27,130 in attendance that day at the now demolished Nepstadion, around 500 were supporting the Lads, a rather arduous task that involved crossing the infamous Iron Curtain. Sunderland were almost certain to get beat, which made those making the journey probably just a little bit mad.

Vasas had a star-studded line-up full of Hungarian internationals, and SAFC were a Second Division side whose involvement in the competition itself was the continuation of a footballing miracle that began with the famous victory over Leeds United in the FA Cup final.

So when Billy Hughes nodded home a Dick Malone free kick and made club history by scoring our first goal on the continent (at least in a major competitive tournament) and in the dying stages Dennis Tueart performed a bit of magic, after a wonderful pass from inside our own half by FA Cup final hero Ian Portefield, to double the lead going into the second leg it was another massive upset to add to our history.

It’s a shame our only ever away victory in Europe was back in the days before widespread television broadcast and also that it was in a country that was very difficult to travel to, had it been in Western Europe more than 500 of our fans almost certainly could have been there it. Our only other trip to Europe was a 2-0 defeat to Sporting CP, although even against them we did well to beat the Portuguese giants 2-1 in the home leg.

The victory in Budapest was followed up by a 1-0 win in the second leg back at Roker Park, with Dennis Tueart scoring from the penalty spot to seal our place in the second round. Those two wins provided a much needed boost to our domestic form, as we defeated Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 (our first win of the season) and then managed to draw with Brian Clough’s Derby County in the League Cup, impressive considering they were League champions just two seasons prior. We then demolished Derby 3-0 in the replay to add to an impressive list of underdog cup wins under Bob Stokoe.

Bobby Kerr and Micky Horswill are (so far) our only other two goalscorers in Europe, finding the net in the 2-1 win over Sporting CP before we were knocked out. I’m sure that one day more Sunderland players will be able to add to that list of goalscorers in major European competitions, hopefully within the next decade or so.