OTD: CHARLTON 2-1 SAFC

On this day in 2019, Sunderland were defeated 2-1 at Wembley in the League One play-off final by Charlton Athletic. The winning goal came in the final seconds of the game.

Play-off heartbreak is a thing that the vast majority of Sunderland fans have experienced more than once, but heartbreaking for different reasons, whether that be losing on penalties or like this one, conceding a last minute winner. Under the guidance of Jack Ross, Sunderland had finished the campaign poorly, with only one win in the last seven games, that sole win coming in the form of a 2-0 defeat of Doncaster Rovers at home. Three draws (which saw us concede some last minute goals) and, of course, defeats to Coventry City, Fleetwood Town and Southend United cost us promotion.

The irritating thing was that it was in our hands. Although we were never in the top two consistently, we were always up there and challenging. Barnsley and Luton Town eventually did slip up but we were far too much at a disadvantage by that point to catch up. Somewhat of a rivalry with Portsmouth had formed following the Checkatrade Trophy final between us and them as well as due to the fact that we were seen as the two biggest clubs in the division. So it was just our luck when we ended up finishing in the position to play Kenny Jacket's men in the play-off semi finals. Pompey made the long journey north on Saturday 11th May, for the first leg, but it would be an unhappy one for the visitors.

We lined up with this:

Jon McLaughlin

Luke O'Nien, Alim Ozturk, Tom Flanagan, Bryan Oviedo

Max Power, Lee Cattermole, George Honeyman

Lynden Gooch, Charlie Wyke, Lewis Morgan

...plus a bench of Robbin Ruiter, Adam Matthews, Jimmy Dunne, Denver Hume, Grant Leadbitter, Chris Maguire and Will Grigg.

Substitute Maguire bagged the only goal of the game with a superbly taken volley from just inside the area, just after the hour mark, and just minutes after coming on the pitch himself! The Stadium of Light erupted in a way that it only does when there's been a truly special or important goal scored. As we battled on to hold our slender lead, all of the hard work looked as if it could be thrown away when centre half Alim Ozturk was dismissed for bringing down Gareth Evans. Except he didn't even touch him, which was entirely obvious to everyone in the stadium except for the one who made the all important decisions. The resulting free kick rattled the bar of Jon McLaughlin's goal but, we got away with it. A clean sheet and a goal up going into the second leg at Fratton Park that following Thursday, a long old trip for a midweek fixture! Ozturk's red card was rightfully overturned upon appeal and he was able to feature in the second leg.

We lined up with this for the second match:

McLaughlin

O'Nien, Ozturk, Flanagan, Oviedo

Power, Cattermole, Leadbitter

Honeyman, Wyke, Maguire

...plus a bench of Ruiter, Matthews, Gooch, Dunne, Morgan, Duncan Watmore and Grigg

The trip to the South Coast was a long one however, there was certainly a buzz in the air and the weather was perfect for an evening match. All that was needed was Sunderland to hold on for a draw (or, of course, win). Jack Ross was clearly setting up for a 0-0 stalemate, the obvious giveaway was the fact that we started with three defensive-minded midfield players! It was a pretty uneventful game, although McLaughlin was called into action a handful of times to deny the home side. The match, in general, was scrappy and feisty, owing to the rivalry which had been created earlier that season. Former Sunderland striker flop, James Vaughan, forced his former colleague McLaughlin to pull off a superb save from a close range header and, similarly, Evans tested the Scot's reflexes with a header. Pompey were coming closer and closer and, eventually, big Jon was beaten. Matt Clarke's effort sailed past him but the crossbar came to our rescue.

The most memorable occurrence of that night was when O'Nien tumbled into the crowd and received a boot and a punch from one of the home faithful as he tried to stumble back over the advertising hoardings. Luckily, the ever happy utility player played it down as getting caught up in the atmosphere of the game but it enraged the travelling support nevertheless! Peter Bankes blew the full time whistle after six yellow cards and plenty argy bargy in regulation time. There was a bit of a melee at the full time whistle too. Nevertheless, Sunderland were on their way to Wembley and our spirits high with the prospect of bouncing straight back up to the Championship on the cards. A return to Wembley 56 days after losing to Portsmouth in the cup final, this felt like revenge. We were back in the capital at the home of football and likely favourites to return to football's second tier.

Our lineup was this in London:

McLaughlin

O'Nien, Ozturk, Flanagan, Oviedo

Cattermole, Power, Leadbitter

Honeyman, Wyke, Maguire

...plus a bench of Maksymilian Stryjek, Matthews, Gooch, Dunne, Morgan, Aiden McGeady and Grigg.

Going into the final at Wembley, we were all feeling a bit confident, or at least we all were! Who doesn't love a trip to the home of football after all? We were dealt a bit of a surprise when McGeady was named as a substitute, a massive boost to know we had him as an option following a spell out with injury. He had sufferred the injury just after our Wembley heartbreak earlier in the season against Pompey. Within five minutes of kick off, Charlton centre half Naby Sarr attempted an ill-fated back pass to goalkeeper Dillon Phillips but the ball trickled past the Addicks goalie, who had lost concentration and completely misjudged the Frenchman's back pass. Into the Wembley net it went, to give Sunderland fans a sense of ecstasy, we now led 1-0 early on in the biggest game of our season.

Charlie Wyke's shot from just inside the penalty area struck Patrick Bauer's arm but penalty shouts from the Sunderland end, and the players, were waved away by referee Andy Madley. Grant Leadbitter's effort from 25 yards was then turned away by Phillips and we failed to double out lead, another story of ifs and buts. We weren't exactly lighting up the world with our play but we were fending off striker Lyle Taylor. That was until the 35th minute when the whole thing fell apart. Taylor bombed down the wing and fired in a low cross across the face of the Sunderland goal and Ben Purrington was there to tap home from close range. No team looked particularly like scoring in the second half, both teams were playing cautiously and looking to pounce at the right moment. We knew all too well that the massive pitch at Wembley doesn't take any prisoners and that we needed to play strategically, although one may say we played too deep and invited pressure on us from Lee Bowyer's men.

However, the inevitable happened and flashbacks of play-off heartbreak against Charlton in 1998 came rushing into minds of Sunderland fans. Deep into injury time, defender Patrick Bauer rifled home from close range to break Wearside hearts and deny extra time, sending Charlton into the Championship. Jack Ross would never recover from this play-off disappointment and he would be sacked early into the following season, after getting off on the wrong foot. Fans had become rather annoyed with the Scotsman's negative tactics. Instead he was replaced by Phil Parkinson, who was far worse and would lead us to our lowest league finish in the club's history, eighth in the third tier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7YEjZEVWrE