Two home wins, two unconvincing performances, two games which turned on savvy changes. Sunderland's victories against struggling Fleetwood Town last Tuesday and then against basement side Crewe Alexandra at the weekend shared much in common.
But the two games engendered two very different reactions from Alex Neil. Of his side's peformance against Fleetwood, Sunderland's head coach was highly critical; of the display against Crewe, he was far more forgiving.
After the Fleetwood game, Neil said Sunderland had fallen 'well short' of the standards they expect, and that it felt like it was 'back to the drawing board' for him after a couple of positive performances in the preceding games. It took two half-time substitutions and a change of shape to cure Sunderland's malaise in that game, and inspire them to come from behind to win 3-1.
But against Crewe, despite Sunderland toiling for 85 minutes to break down the visitors' deep-lying defence, Neil felt patience paid off in the end. His substitutions were again instrumental, with Dan Neil and Patrick Roberts coming off the bench to score two quality goals, while Leon Dajaku also made a difference when he came on.
There was no doubt that Sunderland were the dominant side throughout, and that they deserved their win - even if, for 85 minutes, it appeared unlikely that it would be delivered. In his post-match press conference, Neil said 'whether we win the game in the 89th minute, or the 93rd minute, or the first minute, the simple fact is that our job is to win the game'.
The point he was making was that had Sunderland scored twice in the first five minutes, dominated the remainder of the game, and won 2-0, there would have been few complaints. Instead they dominated for 85 minutes and scored their goals in the final five minutes.
The outcome is the same. And yet somehow it did not feel that way.
It felt as though Sunderland had snatched victory right at the death when they were in real danger of dropping two precious points against a side propping up the table, and that had arrived at the Stadium of Light having lost nine of its last ten games. In fact, had Crewe's Chris Long shown greater composure in front of goal, Sunderland might even have been hit with a sucker punch midway through the second half.
But Sunderland, who had barely managed to test the Crewe keeper Dave Richards at that stage, survived. And in the final 20 minutes, Jay Matete at last forced Richards into a meaningful save, before Neil and Roberts evetually found a way through.
Neil has been taken out of the starting line-up over the last month after showing signs of fatigue, but he looked refreshed and reinvigorated when he came on and scored with a crisp finish from inside the D after being set up by Ross Stewart. And Roberts scored his first goal for the club when he collected a pass from Jack Clarke inside the area, and took a touch before finding the net.
The win meant Sunderland completed back-to-back victories for the first time in 2022, stretched their unbeaten run to five games, have kept three clean sheets in their last four games, stayed fifth in the table and firmly in the running for a play-off spot. Nothing less than six points from the two home games against Fleetwood and Crewe would have been acceptable, but Sunderland got what they needed.
And with eight games remaining, and with a top six finish by no means assured, that was what mattered.
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