Sunderland took a big step towards the League One play-off final at the Stadium of Light as they will take a 1-0 lead into the second leg against Sheffield Wednesday. Ross Stewart’s first-half goal was the difference between the two League One sides as his hard work was rewarded at the second time of asking.
Alex Pritchard came within a couple of inches of doubling the Black Cats’ lead when his brilliant effort smashed the crossbar just after half-time. But, other than that, it was a game of very few chances and Alex Neil will be happy to be taking a one-goal lead into the second leg at Hillsborough.
At the other end, the Sunderland defence was very rarely troubled on a night where a play-off attendance record was beaten. Over 43,000 supporters were packed inside Stadium of Light and their presence was known as they didn’t stop making noise all evening.
Read more: Relive the first leg win as it happened
They will have been very pleased by what they saw from all 11 of the players in red and white as they very much lived up to the billing. Although, they still have a huge 90 minutes to navigate in South Yorkshire on Monday evening.
Based on the first leg display, they will be hopeful of gaining another positive result with yet another play-off final at Wembley on the horizon. Here is how a selection of Sunderland fans reacted to the 1-0 first-leg win.
