1976-77 Season - December
Summary
A mixed month which started badly with defeats at Highbury and Villa Park and also saw serious trouble after the home match with Ipswich was abandoned at half time
But there was a belated Xmas present with a comfortable victory over the bottom placed makems.
There was also a new arrival in the shape of Chesterfield's young 'keeper Steve Hardwick with Lee having concerns about the fitness of Roger Jones.
| 1976/77 | 4th Dec | Div 1 | Arsenal [A] | Lost | 3-5 [1-3] | 35,000 |
- Mahoney
- Nattrass
- Kenneddy
- Cassiddy
- McCaffery
- Nulty
- Barrowclough
- Cannell
- Burns [2]
- Gowling [1]
- Craig T
- Hudson
After going eight matches unbeaten and having won five of their last six it was a confident United side that travelled to a frozen Highbury to take on Arsenal and a certain Mr. Supermac in front of the MoD cameras
The preceding week saw an unseemly media squabble between Gordon Lee and Macdonald which left neither in a good light
Irving Nattrass wasn't concerned about facing his old team mate; "I'm pretty certain I can put him out of a game for 90 minutes" he boasted.
The match - played in treacherous conditions - was a bit of a classic and for Macdonald who scored a hat-trick, hit the bar and laid on another it was a personal triumph
Burns opened the scoring [14] before Arsenal scored twice in quick succession through Ross [23] and Supermac [27]. We were hanging on grimly but Macdonald set up Stapleton to score just before half-time.
When Macdonald added a fourth [61] it looked all over however United hit back with two goals in a minute through Gowling and Burns. United pressed for the equaliser but it was Macdonald who had the last laugh just before the end.
"It was most satisfying scoring three against them" gloated Macdonald, an attitude which did not go down well with his former fans.
| 1976/77 | 11th Dec | Div 1 | Ipswich [H] | Lost | aban [1-0] | 38,582 |
- Mahoney
- Nattrass
- Kenneddy
- Cassiddy
- McCaffery
- Nulty
- Barrowclough [1]
- Cannell
- Burns
- Gowling
- Craig T
- Craig D
The next week brought Bobby Robson's table topping Ipswich to Town and the afternoon ended with major trouble in the City after referee Keith Styles abandoned the match at half-time with The Magpies ahead.
Gordon Lee was not best impressed as he had called for the game to be postponed after heavy rain had made the pitch unplayable. As soon as the game started it was obvious that it was impossible to play on and the referee made it clear to the players that he would abandon the game at the interval.
| 1976/77 | 18th Dec | Div 1 | A Villa [A] | Lost | 1-2[1-1] | 33,982 |
- Mahoney
- Nattrass
- Kenneddy
- Cassiddy
- McCaffery
- Nulty
- Barrowclough
- Cannell
- Burns
- Gowling [1]
- Craig T
- Mitchell
The weather wasn't much better at Villa Park a week later when United were beaten by a Deehan goal four minutes from time.
Gowling had put Newcastle ahead [27] but Deehan replied almost immediately [32]. In the second period United had given as good as they got and were unlucky to concede at the death. We dropped to 4th.
| 1976/77 | 27th Dec | Div 1 | Sunderland [H] | Won | 2-0 [1-0] | 49,664 |
- Mahoney
- Nattrass
- Kenneddy [1]
- Cassiddy
- McCaffery
- Nulty
- Barrowclough
- Cannell [1]
- Burns
- Gowling
- Craig T
- Craig D
Almost 50,000 fans turned up for the Tyne Wear derby against bottom placed Sunderland and on this occasion the form book stayed firmly inside.
Playing with no confidence an little fight the visitors were completely dominated by their hosts and the only surprise was that it took the Novocastrians so long to gain a numerical advantage; Cannell diving in to head home with four minutes to go to the break.
Kenneddy doubled the advantage just before the end from an acute angle prompting a mass exodus of the 10,000 Wearsiders.