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Sunderland visit Coventry in the first leg of the Championship play-off semi-final.
Last time out Sunderland lost at home to QPR and Coventry beat Middlesbrough.
Sunderland lost their fifth game in a row against a QPR team with little to play for. The Black Cats started with a strong team selection but lost 1-0. Nicolas Madsen scored for QPR inside the first five minutes with an emphatic finish after a good team move.
Dennis Cirkin played the full 90 and Dan Ballard played 30 minutes off the bench after recovering from injury. Romaine Mundle should be available but is expected to be on the subs bench.
Coventry moved up to 5th place with a 2-0 home victory that also ended Middlesbrough’s fading play-off hopes. Two goals at the end of each half from Jack Rudoni saw Coventry move above Bristol City. But the Sky Blues were also indebted to recalled goalkeeper Ben Wilson for victory as he made crucial saves to preserve his side's advantage.
Regis le Bris:
"It's the end of the testing period. After the first goal, we had some good periods but we were not able to create danger in the final third.
"At the end of the game with many players in the box and crosses, it was really difficult to find a solution.
"It was about the last cross, decision making, the players in the box, the clinical finishing.
"It was the case today in another scenario where we have to run after something but unfortunately we didn't find the solution."
Presser Thursday 2pm? (tbc)
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Frank Lampard:
"It's great work from everyone involved. It's tense – it's a long week going into the game. We've got ourselves into this position but it's one game and anything can happen.
"Our performance was brilliant in the first half, though Middlesbrough had their chances.
"We stayed focused though, and I really felt the power of us in the second half. We were brilliant on the counter-attack and showed great desire to defend our box.
"I'm really delighted we've got there and now we've got to take a breath and understand that it's a step. Now we have to recover and go again for Sunderland."
Form:
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Head to Head
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Match Appointments
Referee: JOHN BUSBY
Assistant referees: Mark Russell & Sam Lewis
Fourth official: James Linington
Team Lineups:
Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Cirkin, O’Nien, Mepham, Hume, Neil, Jobe, Le Fee, Watson, Isidor, Mayenda
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Subs: Moore, Browne, Ballard, Aleksic, Samed, Jones, Rigg, Roberts, Mundle.
Injured: Danns, Abdullahi, Poveda, Huggins, Alese.
Coventry City: (4-2-3-1) Wilson, van Ewijk, Thomas, Kitching, Bidwell, Grimes, Sheaf, Sakamoto, Rudoni, Wright, Simms
Subs: Collins, Allen, Binks, Borgas Rodrigues, Eccles, Latibeaudiere, Moore, Paterson, Thomas-Asante.
Injured: Dovin, Mason-Clark
Betting Odds:
Sunderland 7/2
Coventry 11/5
Draw 3/1
My two pence:
Another poor performance in front of our home crowd but surely we have to perform in these next two games after reaching the play-offs.
I trust that Regis has them totally focussed on the here and now. If we keep it tight or within a single goal I think we can finish them off at the Sol.
Coventry dropped their keeper prior to the Boro game and ex Sunderland keeper Ben Wilson stepped up to play an absolute blinder. We don’t have the best record against Coventry but they have shown that they can be beaten, losing to both Luton and Plymouth.
I’m going to both semi-finals so hopefully we play the way we did in the opening games of the season, high press, quick passing and clinical finishing.
I’m going for a 2-1 away win.
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Live Stream:
Live on Sky Sports Football
https://www.safc.com/live
Ha’way the Lads
