Sunderland secured their return to the Premier League thanks to a two-one win over Sheffield United in the Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley, with Eliezer Mayena and the departing Tommy Watson scoring to turn the game on its head late on. Daniel Wales reports from Wembley.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00A win for Wearside at Wembley as the Black Cats triumph over the Blades to reach the promised land that is the Premier League.
00:16Well, Sunderland are back in the Premier League for the first time since 2017.
00:22They came from behind against Sheffield United to win the Championship Playoff Final and what an occasion it was.
00:28Sunderland fans will probably party long and hard into the night to mark their return to England's top flight.
00:35Let's go now back through the whole day to see exactly how Sunderland marked their return to the Premier League.
00:42Trains on Saturday morning were full of red and white heading from the North East to London with those who hadn't taken over Trafalgar Square on Friday evening.
00:52They were arriving in the capital with only one thing on their mind and that was promotion.
00:59You could sense it in the air on Wembley Way. Sunderland supporters were ready to spur on their team.
01:05So, how excited are you to be here today at Wembley?
01:10Very excited.
01:11Over excited.
01:13Who's your favourite player?
01:15Meander.
01:16Is he going to score today?
01:18Yeah.
01:19Dad, what do you think? What's going to happen today?
01:21I think it's going to be 2-1, Sunderland, through Meander.
01:24We're absolutely buzzing, aren't we?
01:26We couldn't be the best day of our lives.
01:28The atmosphere is absolutely fantastic and it seems like there's a lot more Sunderland fans here than Sheppier United fans, so we're really excited.
01:35That's secretly about.
01:37Even former Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray was feeling optimistic.
01:42It doesn't surprise me that the place is full of Sunderland supporters.
01:45Let's hope the team can perform on the pitch and I'm confident that they will.
01:49It was time then for action at Wembley.
01:52Sunderland supporters had dominated in the stands prior to kick-off, but on the pitch, it was Sheffield United who made the better start, forcing Anthony Patterson into an early save, with Luke O'Neill being forced off because of a dislocated shoulder.
02:07Tyrese Campbell then opened the scoring for the Blades, and before long they thought it was 2-0 as Harrison Burrows struck, only for VAR to rule it out because of an offside player breaching Anthony Patterson's view.
02:20In the second half, Sunderland came into the game and equalised with just 15 minutes left as Elisa Mayenda found the roof of the net.
02:28And then, right at the death, Tommy Watson, with probably his last kick for Sunderland before he departs for Brighton, found the net and sent the Sunderland end into raptures once again.
02:40Yeah, it's a fantastic scenario again.
02:44The output is fantastic, but the scenario was like in semi-final, absolutely fantastic.
02:50Tough for the coaches, tough for our fans probably, but we showed again a strong character, even when we are not dominant, even when we struggle as a squad, we stay connected, we stuck to our plan and maybe later during the game, we'll find an opportunity to change the momentum and it was the case today.
03:13You know, we've had the taste of the Premier League, we know what a great experience it is, what the experience that they'll have next season.
03:22So, yeah, it's going to take quite a while to get over this.
03:26It's absolutely true and true to Sunderland fans, being at the club's five, six years of age.
03:32I think we're going to celebrate a lot of the night, as you can see.
03:37What was said at half-time?
03:39There was a sort of calmness.
03:49There was a sort of calmness.
03:53We came in, there wasn't any screaming or shouting, you know, we was 1-0 down.
03:59And that's the thing about this group, the resilience and the grit.
04:06When they said till the end, it meant it, didn't it?
04:09It did indeed.
04:10It's probably the best bit of marketing you could ever ask for.
04:12And the last few weeks have been absolutely whirlwind.
04:15I've never experienced an ocean like it.
04:17And I'm going to enjoy tonight and I need to sleep for about three days just to kind of pick up from it all.
04:23And I can't wait to spend time with the family because without them, none of this will be possible.
04:27Premier League preparation for Sunderland starts now.
04:31The summer has arrived and they'll have to get the recruitment in the next window right.
04:35But for now, I think the party will continue both here in London and back on Wearside for a little while to come.