What a week it has
been for everyone connected to SAFC. It has been a while since I have felt like
I have done over the past five or six days, and I’m sure you have been no different!
Sunderland have gained significant momentum under Lee Johnson, and any doubts surrounding
our new Head Coach have gone up in a puff of smoke in recent weeks; culminating
in our first win at Wembley since 1973; a brutal statistic that we have finally
managed to put to bed. As those of a black and white persuasion have politely
reminded us all on social media this week, the EFL Trophy may not be the biggest
or most prestigious competition in the country, but it was one that we set out to win before a
ball was kicked this season. It is the first part of the jigsaw for the club;
what a campaign this will turn out to be if we can seal promotion at the season’s
finale.
The final itself
last Sunday, in terms of a spectacle, was far from a classic. Performance-wise,
it was one of our poorest under Lee Johnson. Despite missing Dion Sanderson,
Jordan Willis and Bailey Wright, we were once again defensively resolute. Luke
O’Nien has been a revelation at centre-half this season; is there a position he
cannot play? A great performance at Portsmouth was followed by another at Wembley,
O’Nien securing man of the match in both victories. He gets what the club is
all about and has been an integral part of Sunderland’s success this season.
Lee Johnson has
made us tough to beat. He has made us rock solid at the back and with that
always comes the opportunity to nick a game, and that is how Sunday panned out.
We have in my opinion, the best player in the division in Aiden McGeady, his
form making a mockery of Phil Parkinson’s decision to ostracise him, and with
players like Charlie Wyke, Jordan Jones and Lynden Gooch, we will always possess
the ability to find the net. Tranmere were the better side on the day, and I wish
them all the luck in the world for the rest of the season, but it is our name
on that trophy. Nothing can take that away from us, whatever trophy it is. My
wife politely reminded me on Sunday that I didn’t shed a tear when our son was born;
neither did I on our wedding day, but the tears flowed as Max Power heaved that
trophy above his head at full time as the champagne corks popped. Magical
stuff! I must confess to having Daft Punk’s One More Time on repeat
every day this week! She once asked my why do I and so many others put
ourselves through it all. My answer was simply, ‘we do it for the good days.’ Sunday
was absolutely, a good day, and one we’ll never forget. It is such a shame that
we weren’t all at Wembley to see it.
After our vital win
at Portsmouth, then subsequent victory in the final at Wembley, another banana
skin of a fixture presented itself in the form of a trip to Accrington. Again, we
did not set the world alight, but were resolute and efficient enough on the
night to get the job done. We are thicker skinned under LJ and we can find a
way to win matches. We have now become the side that take games by the scruff
of the neck. With twelve games to go at the business end of the season, it is simply
points over performances if we are to achieve our aim of finally getting out of
the third tier. Sunderland are no longer choking in the big games. We deserved
to beat Pompey, which is a fixture we have struggled with since dropping down
to League One, and we have kicked on from that with two wins since.
As I write this on
the morning of our game against Lincoln, another vital match awaits us. It will
again be another test of our promotion credentials, but we are playing with a huge
amount of confidence now. Make no mistake, despite their current troubles, Lincoln
will be tough opposition at the Stadium of Light. We saw that in our EFL Trophy
Semi-Final. We have a fantastic opportunity to put daylight between us and
another promotion contender. If we win, the quest for automatic promotion will
look to be a three-horse race, with Sunderland firmly in the running. Who could
have thought that only a few months ago? The transformation under Lee Johnson has
been phenomenal.
With 36 points still
to play for, and with fixtures against Lincoln, Hull and Peterborough to come,
it is in Sunderland’s hands to go after automatic promotion. Bolton went up in
2016/17 with 86 points, and Burton the season before with 85. Over the last ten
League One seasons (discounting the curtailed 19/20 campaign), an average of
95.6 points was needed to win the division, with 89.7 needed to achieve second
spot. The way things are shaping up, teams may not need to reach those numbers.
Sunderland must abide by the old cliché of one game at a time and keep the
points tally ticking over. Those three aforementioned matches will probably define
the season for us, which bodes well for an exciting end to the campaign whatever
happens. We want to win the title of course, but if finishing second is what it
takes to climb out of the division, then I’m sure we’ll all be happy with that.
The belief is sweeping across the fanbase that we can indeed achieve the ultimate
goal of promotion back to the Championship this season. I cannot wait to see how
it all pans out.
