Preston 0-3 Sunderland: Sunderland secure place in Championship Play-offs

Six thousand Sunderland fans cheered in the rain as their side clinched a dramatic and unexpected play-off spot.

Tony Mowbray’s side needed a three-goal swing at half-time as their game was still goalless with rivals Millwall winning 3–1. But when the manager’s former club Blackburn made a comeback to South London, his current players made matters with excellent attacking in a near-monsoon from Amad Diallo, Alex Pritchard and Jack Clarke.

Momentum will now be on The Black Cats side as they face Luton in the first leg on Saturday with a nine-game unbeaten run behind them and experience of winning the League One play-offs last season.

For Mowbray, who was appointed in August, yesterday was a vindication of his belief in attacking talent.

“I came to this club because I felt the talent here,” he said.

Tony Mowbray’s Sunderland have made it to the Championship play-offs on the final day

“Patrick (Roberts) is a genius with the ball. He has Premier League talent, even if there are other parts of the game he can’t.

“We didn’t teach Diallo anything. He’s a Manchester United player – they paid a fortune to him.

“It’s my job to take the pressure off these guys, let them express themselves. I want them to be on the ball, not demand that they run all the way back. I was a defender who won promotion (for Middlesbrough) because Bernie Slaven scored 30 goals for us, even though he was a lazy fool!’

Sunderland have not played in the Premier League since 2017 and have spent most of the season shooting from distance to finish in the top six due to their injury list.

Even at Deepdale there was little sign of the excitement to come as Sunderland, who started the seventh day, failed to break the deadlock in the opening 45 minutes.

Mowbray played an ambitious 4-2-4 with goals on his mind and tried to ignore scores from other matches, but Joe Gelhardt was smothered from close range by Andy Woodman, while at the other end Liam Delap missed for Preston as he pushed through cleanly.

The Sunderland boss introduced Pritchard’s craft at half-time and paid dividends.

Dan Neil came close on 48 minutes and then Pierre Ekwah hit Woodman from eight yards out when a controlled finish from either side would have got the job done.

But after 54 minutes, Sunderland’s pressure final forced the Preston Dam to burst.

A Manchester United mercenary, Diallo underlined his quality by wrapping his left foot around the ball and firing into the top corner from just inside the box.

It was the 20-year-old winger’s 13th goal of the season and Sunderland fans rallying behind the goal chanted his name in unison.

Anthony Patterson made a close save from Pat Bauer to keep the lead intact and on 61 minutes the transforming Pritchard added a brilliant second.

The midfielder eyed Woodman before hooking his shot just inside the right-hand post to wrong-foot the keeper. With the news that Millwall had relinquished a 3-1 lead the BlackCats were now in a play-off position and to keep the party going Jack Clarke shot into a brilliant third after 65 minutes and cut in from the left before taking a low finish buried. along Houtman.

For the rest of the afternoon, everyone linked to the red and white had half an eye on what was happening at Millwall and there was a huge rush of relief and revelry at the final whistle when it was confirmed that Sunderland’s victory had been enough.

Mowbray has a reputation for keeping his cool and he doesn’t underestimate Luton, even though Sunderland are clearly the bigger club.

Man Utd mercenary Amad Diallo opened the scoring for the Black Cats with his 13th of the season

“It’s going to be a tough match. It’s no fluke that Luton finished third and we need more magical moments from Diallo and Roberts, and Jack. I have to mention him because today I yelled at him to be focused and then he scores a great goal.’

Pritchard was an important influence, as his arrival coincided with the visitors becoming more pervasive.

“We knew we had to score,” said the midfielder. “There were thousands of our fans here, which was fantastic – they’ve been like that all season.”

Diallo was eventually persuaded to collect his televised man-of-the-match trophy. “He’s a shy boy,” Mowbray said of his mercenary. “And he’ll be hard to replace.”

If he returns to Old Trafford, he could give Sunderland the perfect parting gift of Premier League football.