On 13 August 1886 the half yearly meeting of Sunderland AFC was held at the Royal Hotel, North Bridge Street, and with a large attendance Alderman JW Wayman addressed the gathering. Of 34 matches played the preceding season 24 had been won with 7 defeats and 3 draws. Goals for 108 and those against 40.

It was noted that the move to Newcastle Road had been a great success with attendances increasing significantly. On top of that the Misses Thompson, the owners of the field were so impressed with their new tenants that over £2 in ground rental had been returned to the football club by them. It was generally recognised that Sunderland were the finest side in the North of England, and with all officers re-elected, the entry for the English and Durham cups approved the Town looked forward to the forthcoming season.

The campaign would get underway on 18 September 1886 with a 1 v 0 victory over Mellors Limited, from Nottingham. On 2 October Elswick Rangers visited Newcastle Road, and in a game where just about every decision was hotly disputed the "umpire" had a tough time. Rangers actually turned up 2 men short and introduced 2 of their travelling "friends" with them into the team. Their scratch team nearly caused an upset, Sunderland winning narrowly 3 v 2.

A Sunderland second XI met cheviot, but were despatched 1 v 4. The Sunderland line up begins to give an overall impression of the squad at that time and included the following: Metcalf, Cook, Liddle, Anderson, Summerside, Hornsby, Douglas, H Lord, Smith, Baggott, Hodgson. Sunderland then travelled to south Bank and competed in a thrilling 3 v 3 draw.

16 October saw 2 of Sunderlands 4 sides compete against Morpeth Harriers. The "reserve" game was played at Howard Terrace, Morpeth over 3 35 minute periods with Sunderland winning 5 v 2. The most important game came however at Newcastle Road, where Sunderland met the Harriers in the English Cup.

23 October saw the Sunderland 2nds defeat Jarrow Wanderers 19 v 0, before the first team travelled to play Shankhouse Black Watch. 4,000 spectators then saw the Wearsiders triumph 2 v 1 over Newcastle West End. A return match 13 November saw West End exact revenge 1 v 0, and then it was Birtley put to the sword 2 v 0. Sunderland 2nds travelled to Ovington and were defeated 0 v 4, having lined up as follows: Liddle, Michael, Wishart, Cook, Hodge, Anderson, Baggott, Edmundson, Hodgson, H Lord, Brady

27 November saw one of the first examples of a benefit game. Played for W Oliver who had his collar broken in an earlier English cup game for Sunderland against Newcastle West End, who supplied the opposition. Sunderland would again triumph 1 v 0 in a match refereed by Dr Wilson of Birtley. Newcastle East End visited Sunderland and went home with a 1 v 1 draw; Sunderland visited and defeated Birtley 2 v 1 on 4 December and the second team defeated Eppleton 3 v 1 the week before Xmas.

Basford Rovers provided the opposition on 27 December, were defeated 2 v 0, before some special holiday fixtures were lined up, that would really test Sunderland. The first took place 28 December and involved a trip to Feethams to play Darlington. Both clubs had met many times previous, and usually close affairs there was no evidence to suppose that this would be any different. However Sunderland completely folded and ended up on the wrong end of a hiding 1 v 5. A terrible way to start the festive period.

On New Years day the mighty Glasgow Rangers were the visitors to Wearside. With ice affecting many parts of the Town skating was the popular pastime and this had an effect on the attendance with only some 3,000 present at Newcastle Road. The Rangers team was not full strength, as they were also engaged in a fixture at Bolton Wanderers that day, and with McMillan saving himself for the Dumbarton game that would follow it was a fairly tame affair, with the main consideration mastering the awful conditions. Sunderland ran out 1 v 0 winners, and now the big test came.

3 January and the visit of Dumbarton Athletic was eagerly anticipated. The pitch was in a poor condition, with pools of water everywhere. A strong wind added to cold conditions. Dumbarton were delayed in their arrival and so the advertised 2.15pm kick off was put back some 20 minutes.

Athletic had defeated Newcastle West End on New Years Day and were a formidable outfit. Dumbarton won the toss and kicked towards the Road End. Smith kicked off for Sunderland and within 7 minutes he had opened the scoring for Sunderland, it looked promising. This merely saw Dumbarton up the tempo and an equaliser soon followed by Galbraith. The same man made it 2 for the visitors and a tactical change by Sunderland was made, to no avail, as the Scots piled forward. Dewar made it 3 just before half time. Into the second half and Brown made it 4, Dewar 5, before Sunderland pulled one back through Rooney. As expected Dumbarton had triumphed 5 v 2, but the Wearsiders were far from disgraced. The 4 match holiday programme was completed with a 2 v 1 victory over visitors Linthouse.

As the season wore on South Bank were defeated, St Augustine’s visited Newcastle Road and "escaped" with a draw, Gateshead went away empty handed, and Chester le Street were thrashed 1 v 7 at their Roman Avenue ground by a Sunderland 2nd XI. Sunderland travelled to Durham University and came away as 8 v 2 victors before a very intriguing game took place.

On 26 February the Wearsiders took on the Reverend Hindleys district XI as a benefit match to raise funds for the Sunderland Infirmary and Monkwearmouth dispensary, and with some 5,000 people in attendance a substantial sum of £45 was raised. Robert Thompson the president of Sunderland kicked the match off at 3.20pm, for a district team that included the following players:

Smart (Birtley), Hudson (Shankhouse), Wilkinson (Durham University), Reverend dingle (St Peters), Oliver (Gateshead), Turpin (St Cuthbert’s), Wardale (Gateshead), Arnold (Durham University), Matthews and Hamilton (Shankhouse) and Crichton (Birtley).

With Arnold opening the scoring for the District, Sunderland found no way back and ended up defeated 2 v 3. A good game for a worthwhile cause. Sunderland then went on an unbeaten run against Shankhouse, Whitburn and Birtley, before the big showdown, the final of the Durham County Cup against Darlington at Newcastle Road.

Described as the "event of the season" the 26 March showdown was the culmination of an exciting tournament that had started with 21 entrants. With Birtley, the previous years semi finalists defeated by Sunderland, the Darlington team had thrashed West Hartlepools 5 v 0, before Barnard Castle and Bishop Auckland were put to the sword. With over 7,000 present the game had been delayed due to the lateness of the Darlington "excursion train" and after the obligatory team photographs had been taken, Erskine kicked off for Sunderland. Sunderland gained a first half advantage through a Lord goal that looked suspiciously offside, but allowed to stand, half time came and went. Second half and a marvellous end to end game unfolded, before the final whistle blew.

Both teams "retired to the pavilion" where the Cup was presented to McMillan, the inspirational Sunderland captain, by the Mayoress of Sunderland, Mrs Edwin Richardson. The teams later "retired to the Royal hotel, North Bridge and partook of a substantial meat tea". Gate receipts amounted to £82.

As the season drew to a close Sunderland seemed to tire and 5 out of the last 6 games were lost:

Sunderland 0 v 0 Shankhouse
Sunderland 0 v 5 St Barnard's
Sunderland 1 v 2 Sheffield
Sunderland 1 v 7 Nottingham Rangers
Sunderland 1 v 4 Whitburn
Sunderland 1 v 3 Accrington

Whilst Sunderlands first recognised substitute would not be called upon for some 70 odd years, James Allen, the clubs founder was badly injured in a game towards the end of the season. A replacement was called. Allen had scored an acrobatic goal in the match.

On 5 May 1887 the annual meeting took place in the Monkwearmouth Workman’s Hall, and with Robert Thompson in the chair the report was read. The playing record was as follows:

First team        played 33        won 17                        lost 9   drew 7            for 76  against 63
Seconds           played 22        won 15                        lost 5   drew 2            for 105            against 40

Whilst progress in the "English Cup" was limited the Committee were more than pleased with the DCC success.

James Allen, the then Treasurer issued the financial report, and for the first time in the history of the club they had a tangible end of season credit balance. With income of £416 and expenditure of £349, a very healthy £67 remained with the Clubs bankers. The club, significantly also has stock worth £100. Robert Thompson was re-elected President, Fred Dale captain.

James Allen proposed the salaried position of a Secretary (basically a team manager) and for some reason it was turned down. It is probably fair to assume that by this point Allen was finding disfavour with the new committee members, and founder or not, the next season or two would be a rocky road for the man from Ayrshire.