Can Sunderland be promoted to the Super League? Championship: Sunderland vs Coventry

Tuesday 003 Sunderland vs Coventry

At 3:00 a.m. on May 10, the first round of the English Championship upgrade playoff staged! Coventry sat at Ricoh Stadium against Sunderland, a contest about escalating fate was full of gunpowder from the beginning. When the game reached the 67th minute, the deadlock on the court was finally broken - Sunderland midfielder Lefee sent a straight pass like a scalpel. Wilson got the ball on the left side of the penalty area and made a slight adjustment. He shot through the lower right corner of the goal, and the visiting team led 1-0! The Coventry soldiers quickly launched a counterattack and equalized the score in just two minutes. The cross from the right side accurately found Rudoni who was ambushed in the small penalty area. The central defender jumped high and headed the ball into the net, and the two sides returned to the same starting line. After the change of sides, the scene was stalemate until the 88th minute saw a dramatic turn: Coventry defender Milan made a fatal mistake in the pass back, Elesel intercepted the ball and formed a one-on-one striker. Facing the attacking goalkeeper, he calmly pushed the ball into the empty goal, and Sunderland finally took away the victory 2-1.

Looking back at the whole game, Sunderland seized the opportunity to counterattack twice to show his killer character. In the 22nd minute, Elesel dribbled the ball in the backcourt and suddenly shot a cold arrow in the half, but unfortunately the shot missed; in the 63rd minute, Bellingham Jr. was fouled in the penalty area but failed to get a penalty. The home team Coventry also threatened the attack several times. Haywright shot at a small angle in the 25th minute and Da Silva almost created a murderous intent in the 49th minute.

Sunderland's two goals in the first leg were quite dramatic. The first was Isidor's counterattack score, and the second goal was even more interesting. Coventry's defender Van Evik sent a fatal return pass error, and Meynda seized the opportunity to score the winning goal. It can be said that Sunderland's victory in this game was due to the opponent's mistakes to a certain extent, which was a long drought. After all, they did not win six consecutive games before, and even failed to score in 5 games. This victory must have greatly boosted morale.

But Sunderland has an inescapable knot. Their head coach LeBris must remember clearly that last season's play-off, they also led Luton 2-1 away in the first leg of the semi-finals, but they returned to their home court and were eliminated 2-0. This time I went home with the same advantage. The fans and the team were probably a little confused. Will history repeat itself? In addition, their recent home results are really not good. They have lost 0-1 in their last three home games, and have only won 3 games in their last 11 home games. This home court advantage doesn't seem that stable.

Sunderland defeated Coventry 2-1 away in the first leg to get an advantage. Although Coventry lost the game, Coventry played no badly at all, with a possession rate of 74% far higher than Sunderland. The number of attacks, pass success rate and shots were significantly higher than Sunderland. It can be seen that Coventry is fully capable of competing with Sunderland. At the same time, after Sunderland won away, he should have received confidence and support from the agency when he returned to the home court today. However, today the agency only made a draw and a half concession in the initial stage, which was consistent with the first round. This also indirectly reflects that the agency did not give Sunderland any high-profile signals, and the agency still lacks confidence in Sunderland's home victory. Therefore, with the agency not giving Sunderland high enough confidence and the competitive attitude Coventry showed in the first round, it is optimistic that Sunderland will not be defeated at home in this game.

Reference: Double

Score: 2-1 1-1