The introduction of Alex Pritchard at half time was a change that many did not see coming. But the super-sub changed the game and chipped in with a goal as we secured the play-offs!
Sunderland struggled initially, but grew into the first half. With Dennis Cirkin injured at the break, Tony Mowbray was left with a big decision to make.
Interestingly, the gaffer opted for Alex Pritchard as his replacement, a change which saw Lynden Gooch move to the left hand-side.
Having failed to have much control of possession in the opening 45, a lot of our success had come as a result of Gooch holding our width down the right, with Patrick Roberts and Amad’s tendencies to drift inside onto their stronger foot.
It only took nine second-half minutes for us to find the net, as Amad’s scorcher nestled in the top corner.
Six minutes later, Jack Clarke fed the ball into former Spurs midfielder Pritchard. After taking a touch to get it out of his feet and with Roberts making a run in acres of space, the substitute calmly guided the ball into the net, with Woodman routed to the spot. Clarke followed up shortly after, securing the points and pouncing on Millwall's misfortune.
Faced with having to take Cirkin off, many would have opted for a more straight-forward replacement, with Joe Anderson on the bench. Opting for the midfield maestro instead, however, proved to be a master stroke by the gaffer.
Prichard oozes experience, confidence and calmness. Those were traits we seemed to lack in the first half. The Essex-born attacking midfielder seemed to settle us down going forward following the half-time break, and his introduction built on what was a strong end to the first half.
We certainly saw more of the ball, more time when on it and more of an idea as to what to do with it after our number 21 entered the field of play.
Having struggled with injuries and competing with an array of attacking talent, Pritch has had a bit of a stop-start season. Coming on with 45 minutes to win the game, he gave us the outlet we really needed in the second half.
It could be argued that scoring was going to be a matter of 'when' rather than 'if', as our final game of the season progressed, but the introduction of the thirty-year-old really helped along the way and it was a risk from Mowbray that certainly paid off in the end.
