On this day (September 18, 1965): Bright lights, big hell!

Sunderland travelled to Bloomfield Road looking for their first away win of the season. Blackpool were not an easy match at home and had thrashed Sunderland 3-1 in the corresponding match the previous season. The Seasiders boasted solid experience in their squad as well as exciting young talent. Emlyn Hughes and Alan Ball were among the young talents, Jimmy Armfield and Ray Charnley brought international experience and Pelton-born Jimmy Robson brought goals and trophy experience from his previous club Burnley – he later worked for Mick Buxton at Huddersfield and became reserve team manager.

Jimmy Montgomery retained his place in goal, but in defence, Northern Ireland international John Parke continued to play alongside his international teammate Martin Harvey and Jim McNab, as the injured Charlie Hurley was still missing.

Jim Baxter was positioned as an inside forward and Nic Sharkey continued as a centre forward. Both had scored goals in previous matches. This was the first season in which a substitute could be used, with Sunderland's speedy winger Billy Campbell taking his place on the bench.

The Northern Irishman joined the club from Distillery in September 1964 and was mainly a backup to Mike Hellawell and Brian Usher, playing just five games before moving to Dundee (and then on to Motherwell), where he scored goals and gained international recognition.

There was a real wind blowing when the game started. The wind was not favourable to any particular team and certainly did not help the game to flow. What was on offer was a no-holds-barred contest in which no quarter was given or demanded, peppered with body-checking and hasty tackles. Remarkably, only two players were cautioned and one penalty was awarded. With a stricter referee than Bill Handley, who tried to keep the game flowing in difficult conditions, it could easily have been double or even triple.

In the ninth minute, two of the day's most effective players almost brought the game to a halt with their combined play. Nic Sharkey fed George Mulhall, who had taken up a promising position with real speed. However, his shot skidded terribly in the wind and threatened the corner flag more than the Blackpool goal!

In the 20th minute, Charnley powerfully headed the ball straight at Jimmy Montgomery, probably the only real attempt on goal for Sunderland in the first half.

Photo by County Photos/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Blackpool could match Sunderland's spirit and effort and it took a special game to break the deadlock in those conditions. In the 40th minute, Mulhall picked up the ball on the right and passed it to the speedy Hellawell, who raced away and played it back to the advancing Mulhall in the half-right position. Uncharacteristically, Mulhall hesitated with the ball and it was cleared into midfield. McNab controlled the ball and slotted it precisely back to Mulhall, who danced past a couple of defenders and aimed at goal. In desperation, fellow Scot Hugh Fisher grabbed a fistful of his shirt and knocked Mulhall off his feet. VAR would not have been needed on this one – it was not subtle. The referee signaled a penalty.

In today's game, we sometimes refer to players who are “worky tickets” as shithouses. If Jim Baxter had played today, he would be the king of the shithouses.

Baxter won the ball and effortlessly fired the penalty past Waiters in the Blackpool goal. The Roker horde roared their approval and Baxter, the ultimate showman, soaked it up.

Blackpool goalkeeper Tony Waiters, who had played one season for Bishop Auckland before starting his league career, later made his name as coach of the England youth team, leading them to the 1973 European Championship. He led the Vancouver Whitecaps to the 1979 NASL championship, defeating the famous New York Cosmos along the way. He then led Canada to the quarter-finals of the 1984 Olympics. In 1985 his team won the CONCACAF championship, qualifying for the 1986 World Cup. The Blackpool goalkeeper was not happy with Baxter's bullshit and let him know it in language that sounded like a farmer.

The second half resumed and the previously well-reserved Ball was involved in some good moves, but these came to nothing. Throughout the game, Blackpool wingers Moir and Horne had caused problems for Irwin and Ashurst, but without ever producing a final result. Ball and the previously-reserved Green combined well in the left centre-back position in the 56th minute. It looked as though Cecil Irwin had pushed Green to the byline, but somehow he managed a tame shot that bounced past Montgomery and onto the post.

It was a rather accidental goal and not really deserved given the course of the game, even though Blackpool had never been eliminated from the competition.

George Herd, who had worked tirelessly winning, receiving and using balls to set up Sharkey, Hellawell and Mulhall in particular, linked up well with Sharkey shortly after the equaliser. Sharkey passed to Hellawell, who again sprinted towards the byline. His cross found Mulhall, whose fierce shot seemed headed for goal until Waiters was just able to deflect the ball away.

A few minutes later, Baxter passed to Mulhall, who fired another blitz that Waiters was just able to catch.

Then it was the home side's turn to come close to scoring when Len Ashurst cleared a Charnley header off the goal line.

In the 69th minute came the decisive moment of the game. Blackpool full-back Jimmy Armfield, who had played a dogged, determined game up to that point, decided to dribble out of his box. The Sunderland player in front of him was Jim Baxter, whose tackling stats would have been very low up to that point in the game. Did Armfield expect to easily beat the mysterious Scot? We'll never know. What actually happened was that Baxter not only won the ball but effortlessly put distance between himself and the robbed defender before playing the perfect pass to Nic Sharkey, who eluded his marker and fired the ball firmly past Waiters in the Blackpool goal.

Once again, the Roker Horde, who had been vocally supporting the entire game, roared their approval, and Baxter earned the applause.

Slim Jim was probably still basking in that applause when the rugged Hugh Fisher went over the goal. It was a calculated, leg-breaking tackle that could easily have resulted in a red card. Thankfully it was only a caution. However, a moment later Fisher might have wished he had been sent off. As the referee looked away, Baxter knocked Fisher down without the ball going anywhere near either of them. It was a petulant foul that, had the referee seen it, could have resulted in a red card.

Sunderland almost managed to put the game to bed thanks to a stunning moment in the very last minute of the game when Horne fired a dangerous cross just along the six-yard line, which was picked up by a crowd of defenders and attackers alike as it continued on its way.

The first away win of the season was gratefully received by the Roker Horde and probably gave some, if not most, of them a good weekend in Blackpool.

What was not yet known at this point in the season was that it would be Sunderland's only away win of the entire season, and so many were all the more happy about it.

Baxter and Sharkey repeated their goalscoring performance in the next game against Fulham, making it three games in a row in which the same two players scored the goals that secured Sunderland the points.

The win moved Sunderland up to sixth in the table, but that was the end of a season that had shown so much promise. The team spent most of the season in the bottom third of the league, with a divided dressing room and a manager whose priority seemed to be to remove all Catholic players from the team. Nic Sharkey, John O'Hare, Harry Hood and Mike Hellawell were just some of the Catholic players who seemed to suffer under McColl.

Jim Baxter's signing had caused so much excitement and anticipation. Ivor Broadis wrote in the Sunday Sun After the Blackpool game, described Baxter’s contribution to the competition as “just enough”, which probably sums up his on-field contribution this season.

Sunderland finished in a disappointing 19th place with 36 points, while Blackburn (20 points) and Northampton Town (33 points) were relegated.

On this day in 1965, two points and an away win, a rise to sixth place in the table and a trip to take a closer look at the illuminations made for the perfect end to the day.

Division One – Date: 09/18/1965

Venue: Bloomfield Road – Attendance: 28,277

Blackpool – Sunderland 1:2

Goalscorers: Baxter (penalty) 40 mins; Green 56 mins; Sharkey 69 mins

Blackpool: Waiters; Armfield; Craven; Fisher; Rowe (McPhee 19 mins); Green; Moir; Ball; Charnley; Robson; Horne

Sunderland – Statistics & current form Montgomery; Irwin; Ashurst; Parke; Harvey; McNab; Hellawell; stove; Sharkey; Baxter; Mulhall Under: Campbell