RUNNERS & RIDERS

Here is a comprehensive rundown of each potential opponent for Sunderland heading into the play-offs…

SHEFFIELD UNITED

We can only play Sheffield United in the final. I was pleased to see Leeds and Burnley both secure automatic promotion because out of the top three, I think Sheffield United are the most beatable. We’ve beaten them 2-1 and they’ve beaten us 1-0 this season, although their victory came in that weird game where both teams received first-half red cards. They’re obviously the “best of the rest” and have a great squad for this level, but in a one-off match I would back Regis Le Bris to get the better of Chris Wilder. Plus, if our fans are concerned about form going into the play-offs, we should take solace in the fact that the Blades are in a similar situation! We’ve picked up four points in our last five games but they’ve only picked up three.

BRISTOL CITY

Bristol City are currently 5th in the Championship so if the league ended right now, we’d have to play them over two legs in the semis. This is probably the most favourable outcome for Sunderland. When we played them recently they did beat us, but that was inspired by a wonder-goal from their centre half. Until that point, they didn’t exactly cause us many problems despite us playing pretty much the whole game with ten men. If it was 11 vs 11, over two legs, I would certainly fancy our chances of heading to Wembley. In fairness, they are the team who currently are in the best form going into the mini-tournament and that counts for a lot. Ironically, people seem to forget that it was Bristol City who drew with Coventry back in 1977…

COVENTRY CITY

This is the team most Sunderland fans want to avoid at all costs, for obvious reasons. They certainly have a mental advantage over us and have been a bogey team since the beginning of time. We've not actually beaten them since 2006 and haven't won at their place since 1985. Coventry were 17th when Frank Lampard took over and currently they’re 6th, which shows the great job he’s done. Haji Wright is their top scorer with 12 goals, and four of them have come against Sunderland! We’ve done so well against the top teams this season but Coventry are the one ghost we haven’t been able to exorcise.

MIDDLESBROUGH

Boro are a really strange team this season, you just don’t know what they’re going to produce. It’s a bit of a surprise that they’re in 7th place because I feel like they’ve flown under the radar a little bit. Given the talent in that squad, Michael Carrick is underachieving. Until recently, Middlesbrough would have been a team to certainly avoid in the play-offs. However, this season we’ve done the double over them - including an iconic 3-2 win at the Riverside. This will surely put us in good stead if we had to play them, either over two legs or at Wembley. I’d certainly be happy to play Boro if it meant Coventry were taken out of the equation!

MILLWALL/BLACKBURN

At this stage, it seems a bridge too far for either Blackburn or Millwall to make the play-offs. However, it is still mathematically possible and, after all, this is the Championship so who knows? A lot can change in two games. Alex Neil is a master of the play-offs (see SAFC, 2022) and he’d definitely be out for revenge against his former employers. With Neil in the dugout and the trio of George Honeyman, Duncan Watmore and Aaron Connolly in the squad, they could certainly open up past wounds… even if they were decidedly average when we beat them 1-0 at the SoL recently. As for Blackburn, we’ve only picked up one point against them this season and they beat us on Easter Monday (albeit not as bad as last year’s Easter Monday). They’re hitting form at the right time, although it’s probably too little too late.