Play off heartbreak is a thing that the vast majority of Sunderland fans have experienced more than once, but heart-breaking 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 pretty poorly, with only one win in the last 7 games, that coming as a 2-0 defeat of Doncaster Rovers at home but draws, which saw us concede some last minute goals, and of course defeats to Coventry, Fleetwood and Southend cost us promotion.
The irritating thing is 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 eventually did slip up but we were far too much at a disadvantage by that point.
Somewhat of a rivalry with Portsmouth had formed following the Checkatrade Trophy final, that and 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 the the position to play Kenny Jacket's men in the play-off semi finals. We did however hold a home advantage over the Hampshire side, the south coast side made the long journey north on Saturday 11th May but it would be an unhappy one for the visitors.
McLaughlin
O'Nien; Ozturk; Flanagan; Oviedo
Power; Cattermole; Honeyman
Gooch; Wyke; Morgan
Chris 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 onto the 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.
The Turkish centre back wrestled Evans down as he was the last man and the Welshman was through on goal, some would say he took one from the team and I must say, I think he did. Sometimes those pay off, sometimes they really cost you, dearly. 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!
McLaughlin
O'Nien; Ozturk; Flanagan; Oviedo
Power; Cattermole; Leadbitter
Honeyman; Wyke; Maguire
The trip to the South Coast was a long one but 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 to beat Pompey! Jack Ross was clearly setting up the 0-0 draw, the obvious giveaway was the fact that we started with three defensive minded midfield players!
A pretty uneventful game, although McLaughlin was called into action a handful of times to deny the home side from levelling up the aggregate score. The game, in general, was scrappy and feisty, owing to the rivalry which had been created earlier that season.
Former Sunderland flop, James Vaughan forced his former colleague McLaughlin to pull off a superb save from a close range header and similarly, Gareth Evans tested the Scot's reflexes with a header also just after the break. Pompey were coming closer and closer and eventually big Jon was beaten... Matt Clarke's effort left McLaughlin helpless but the crossbar came to our rescue.
The most memorable occurrence of that night was when Luke 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 6 yellow cards and plenty argy bargy in the regulation time as well as 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 a bounce straight back to the Championship on the cards. A return to Wembley 56 days after losing to Portsmouth in the cup final, this felt like revenge, that we were back in the capital at the home of football and likely favourites to return to football's second tier.
McLaughlin
O'Nien; Ozturk; Flanagan; Oviedo
Cattermole; Power; Leadbitter
Honeyman; Wyke; Maguire
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 Aiden McGeady was named as a substitute, a massive boost to know we had him as an option following a spell out with injury, an injury he had suffered just after our Wembley heartbreak earlier in the season against Pompey.
Within 5 minutes of kick off, Charlton centre half Naby Sarr attempted an ill-fated back pass to keeper Dillon Phillips but the ball trickled past the Addicks goalie, who had lost concentration and completely misjudged the Frenchman's back pass, and into the Wembley net to give Sunderland fans a sense of ecstasy as 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 Lyle Taylor and co. 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 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, instead sending Charlton into the Championship.
Jack Ross would never recover from this play-off disappointment, he would be sacked early into the following season after getting off on the wrong foot and fans became rather annoyed with the Scotsman's negative tactics, instead he was replaced by Phil Parkinson and we all know how that tuned out!
