On This Day (February 22, 1977): Sunderland score six goals against West Brom as the mini renaissance continues!

The 1976-77 season was very similar to many seasons that would come after it.

The team’s early struggles led to a managerial change before a late upturn in form would leave the team with a chance of top flight survival.

Bob Stokoe’s departure from the club was probably not a surprise given the rotten run of form the team were on. After a winless run of nine defeats and very few goals scored, Ian McFarlane took over as caretaker when Stokoe resigned from his post.

McFarlane was permanently replaced by Jimmy Adamson in early November who had just previously had a stint as manager of Sparta Prague. Adamson’s job wasn’t an easy one from the start with a horrendous run having him on the back foot almost instantly.

The new manager was trying to make changes which included replacing some of the clubs most revered footballers who won the 1973 FA Cup with players such as Billy Hughes and Dick Malone losing their places in the team to make way for some younger players such as Shaun Elliott, Gary Rowell and Kevin Arnott.

It took the new boss ten games to pick up a win when the team beat Bristol City 1-0 in February.

This win sparked an unprecedented run of form where the team scored almost twenty goals in four games with the third win on this run coming on this day in 1977 when Adamson’s team beat West Brom 6-1.

After beating Midlesborough 4-0, Sunderland certainly entered this game with a newfound confidence. It appeared breaking the losing run under Adamson took a weight off their shoulders and with a raft of young talent now playing, a sense of freedom was sensed in their play.

Photo by S&G/PA Images via Getty Images

The team started like a steamtrain in this game as they went ahead after Bob Lee – who scored a hat trick in this game – grabbed his first after less than thirty seconds.