Sunderland 1 Leeds 0(Ian Porterfield )

Back in the Sixties and Seventies Cup-Finals were the highlight of the year. Live matches on television were so few and far between- Home Championship(wish it would return) World Cup and the European Cup being the exception. On the morning of a Cup-Final I would switch on the black and white television and from about 8am to 5.30pm, be super glued to watching every snippet of information and highlights on the BBC. After the Cup-Final was over, all the local parks would be packed with kids including myself, trying to emulate the stars of the day. Obesity although around was never mentioned, as we kids seemed to be so much more active, with walking to school( 3 miles a day for me ), daily PE lessons and Computers were the size of a house and nobody knew what they looked like.
I have always gone for the underdog in Cup-Finals and in 1973, even more so. Bob Stokoe had been sacked by Charlton in September 1967 and at the time was a shock to me, as I had only been supporting Charlton since March of that year and to an eleven year old I thought we had a good manager and team. Stokoe became manager of Sunderland in 1972, who at the time were struggling in the old 2nd Division. Sunderland's Cup run, was exceptional and I followed it closely, watching the highlights whenever shown on TV. Sunderland reached the final after beating Arsenal in the Semi's and faced the mighty Leeds . What a match, one of the all time greats and after Ian Porterfield had given Sunderland an unlikely lead it was one way traffic, with only Bob Montgomery keeping Leeds at bay, with some fantastic saves. During the second half Montgomery produced the second greatest save I have ever seen (Banks against Pele being number one) when he somehow tipped Peter Lorimars thunderbolt from about three yards onto the bar. The biggest upset in a Cup-Final, those were the days, so unlikely to happen now as the gap between the Championship and the Premier would be the equivalent of the Southern League and the First Division in 1973.
(Just for the record -Charlton lost to Bolton 4-0 after a 1-1 draw at the Valley in the third round).
Ian Porterfield a sad loss at such an early age