Sunderland: One hurdle remains as Black Cats go ‘Til the End’

With the club still searching for a new head coach in June, few would have expected a season challenging for promotion.

Regis Le Bris arrived with little fanfare, having suffered relegation from Ligue 1 with Lorient in his previous job.

But four straight wins in August had them top of the Championship in their best start to a season for 99 years and they carried that form on.

They were in the top four all season and were in the conversation for automatic promotion until successive defeats in February against Leeds United and Hull City.

The focus has been all about the play-offs for three months and saw a big drop-off in form as they finished the regular season with five straight losses.

Despite coming up against a Sky Blues team full of momentum who dominated possession across both games, the Black Cats kept going and had the big moments go in their favour, culminating in Ballard’s header – a moment that will go down in Wearside folklore.