Match Day Thread Sunderland AFC v Coventry City – Play-off Semi Final 2nd leg Tuesday 13th May 2025 - KO 20:00

Sunderland host Coventry in the second leg of the Championship play-off semi-final.
Last time out Sunderland beat Coventry 2-1.
Eliezer Mayenda scored an 88th-minute winner to give Sunderland a crucial advantage over Coventry City after Wilson Isidor had opened the scoring and Jack Rudoni headed in the equaliser.
Regis le Bris started with Dan Ballard replacing Chris Mepham in defence and played in a 442 formation but he could change things around at home with the view of having more possession.
Romaine Mundle is available but might not be risked from the start. Aji Alese will not feature.

Coventry only have one goal to claw back at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday but with a sellout crowd, a testing atmosphere awaits the Sky Blues that's for sure.

Regis le Bris:
"It was a tough game, Coventry played really good football.
"We decided to play with two forwards, so we accepted their domination in midfield.
"We felt early in the second half they played different kinds of balls and it was now possible to escape the pressure and create the link with our strikers and it worked well.
"We'll have another tough game at home, so it's not done.
"It's really clear the mindset in the dressing room. No complacency. We know we'll have another tough game, another scenario, difficult opponent, so let's reset."
"It's just half-time. I think we showed today that we were in our plan. We were fresh, we were connected and had all of our players available.
"We knew it'd be tough because Coventry are good and the second leg will be tight."
Press Conference:

Frank Lampard:
"It was a good performance. I don't need to dwell on the mistakes too much but the performance was good.
"We couldn't break the deadlock because they defended their box so well, but we did everything we could for large parts of the game without maybe that little end bit.
"It didn't happen and so we go again. The game may look different on Tuesday and it may feel different at their stadium whether they play the same way.
"But I'm proud of the players, we obviously didn't get the result we deserved and we didn't deserve to lose, but we can't drop our heads and understand there's loads to play for."

Form:


Match Appointments
Referee: ANDREW MADLEY
Assistant referees: Nick Hopton and Craig Taylor
Fourth official: Tony Harrington

Team Lineups:
Sunderland AFC: (4-4-2) Patterson, Cirkin, O’Nien, Ballard, Hume, Neil, Jobe, Le Fee, Roberts, Isidor, Mayenda

Subs: Moore, Hjelde, Mepham, Seelt, Rigg, Browne, Samed, Jones, Mundle.
Injured: Danns, Abdullahi, Poveda, Huggins, Alese.

Coventry City: (4-2-3-1) Wilson, van Ewijk, Thomas, Kitching, Dasilva, Grimes, Sheaf, Sakamoto, Rudoni, Wright, Thomas-Asante.
Subs: Collins, Allen, Bidwell, Binks, Eccles, Latibeaudiere, Mason-Clarke, Paterson, Simms.
Injured: Dovin



Betting Odds:
Sunderland 6/5 Coventry 21/10 Draw 12/5

My two pence:
A good away performance and an excellent result at Coventry.
I trust that Regis has them totally focused again and I do think that we can finish them off at the Sol.

I’m going to this one, so hopefully we play the way that we did in the opening games of the season, high press, quick passing and deadly finishing. Hope to see a few lads off here before the game

I’m going for a 2-1 home win.

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Live Stream:
Live on Sky Sports Football
https://www.safc.com/live

Ha’way the Lads

 

looking forward to Tuesday think we see Mundle on bench Haway The Lads lets finish the job

 

48 hours to go and sick feeling is back in my tum tum.

if we get the first goal, early on. The SoL will be rocking and hopefully Coventry will collapse.
Going 2-1

 

Cannot wait for this! I’m not sleeping. I was wide awake at 3.00am this morning thinking about the match and couldn’t get back to sleep!

just wanted to take this opportunity to thank RTB for his sterling efforts this season with all the match day threads. They really do help set the scene. You’re a credit to the board mate

I’ve been thinking a lot about the old man recently in the run up to the game and the stories he used to tell about Roker Park in the 50’s and 60’s - specifically stories about the Roker Roar. A lot of people have talked about it and over the years I’ve heard many commentators elude to it but it’s this one particular conversation I had with my Dad many many years ago about it which I’ve never forgot.


Actually it’s not such a story, more of his “explanation” as to what he believed was behind it and why it became famous. He would describe the types of supporters that would go to the match during that era - typically men, working class men who would usually have worked hard, manual jobs down the pit or in the ship yards. Jobs that they had worked for years and would probably work for many more and within that would lie a deep sense of anger, frustration……a sense of…not hopelessness, more an acceptance of that was going to be their lot in life and any opportunities to improve their lives would be few and far between…..and that anger and frustration would need to be vented. It would need an outlet…


Imagine then a match day, a packed Roker end filled with these men. All that pent up anger and frustration having been at work all week in those hard manual jobs……ready to be released!


The Roker Roar, as my dad described to me wasn’t the crowd singing songs, or chanting players names….it was literally a roar that would cause opposition teams to freeze. All that pent up anger and frustration I described being released in unison by thousands of supporters in a simulated, primal roar!!! I get goosebumps when I think about it and how I would love to see it return at the SOL.!!


Tuesday night may well be one of those special nights and I can’t stress enough how important the crowd will be to the team. Will we sing….yes of course! Will we sing the players names??? Absolutely! ……but will we ROAR!!!???? I bloody well hope so!

 

Brilliant mate.
When I was an apprentice in the 80s I used to say to one of the fellas that trained me. We’re different though Dave we don’t sing or chant like the rest we put everything into it and it sounds like there a million of us, and then there’s the roar. We still hasd it at the SoL in the early years. Let’s get it back and scare the ****e out of the opposition.
Ya nar what I loved and miss is behind the goals particularly The Fulwell End and North Stand for a corner. ‘Come on you reds come on you reds come on you reds………’.
And Haway the lads, the slow version with the 3 claps between.
Am ganna cry I’ve had half a bottle of Kraken.
Get into them **** them get into them **** them up.

 

Thanks - Great post mate
I'm sure your dad was a good man

 

Cheers mate - he would have loved it on Tuesday. I may just go and give his brick a lucky tap before the game. I’ve only done it twice - our 3-0 win against Everton that sent the mags down and our 1st leg win against Luton 2 years ago

 

In fact it was 9 years ago this very day since the Everton game!

 

I’m absolutely buzzing, ultimate backing from the off, carry these lads over the line, hopefully a huge send off ahead of Wembley

 

Genuinely believe the next team who scores will go through. Ha’way the lads

 

Sell out.

 

They are poor away from home. We need an early goal to put the tie to bed.

 

Hope it's a hostile atmosphere from before the game right until the end.

Think RLB will go unchanged. I expect Coventry to change a few things and go for it from the start. Hopefully we can get an early goal and kill the tie in the first 45.

Hawayyyyy

 

That’s on us mate. I sit in the east stand and not a lot goes on there. I will be turning it up, and I hope everyone does the same. We need to make this firing.

 

It’ll be electric, no doubt about it

 

Loving the revamp of the tunnel

 

I’m buzzing like and I can’t wait!

90 minutes from Wembley. Potentially 180 minutes from premier league football!

if there’s no extra time and all that palaver haha

 

Can't wait to take the grandson to his first night match. It's gonna be absolutely boucing and he'll see exactly what its like to be a Sunderland supporter when the ground is totally full and we're all as one - might even get his dad to switch from being a plastic mag! Plus there's a prize of a trip to Wembley on the horizon if we get through it

 

Coventry fans predicting a Sunderland win

 

Definitely one to get you warm inside!

Early goal would be amazing! Atmosphere will be brilliant.