Sunderland were a man short at the start, but had 11 for the second half. Rosehill turned up one short, but were helped out by a Wearmouth player. There was no referee, just an umpire from either side. Sunderland scored two more goals, which their umpire said should stand; the Rosehill umpire claimed he did not see them. The was some wrangling but eventually captain Willie Allan withdrew claim to both goals. Sunderland afterwards claimed that if there had been a referee, by the strict rules of the game the score would have been 4-0.