Tony Mowbray has set his players a target of taking their play-off challenge to the very last day of the season after Sunderland's win against Birmingham City brought them to within a point of the top six.
The Black Cats came from behind to beat the Blues, and held on for all three points despite playing the final 10 minutes shorthanded after Dennis Cirkin was sent off for a second bookable offence - an infraction that will see him suspended for one game, meaning he will miss Tuesday's home game against Huddersfield Town.
That lifted them to ninth in the table and to within a point of the play-off spots with four games remaining - albeit that gap could widen this evening if Blackburn Rovers pick up points at home to Hull City. But Sunderland face relegation-threatened Huddersfield next, and then round off the season with three games against fellow play-off contenders West Bromwich Albion, Watford and then Preston.
And if Sunderland can go to Preston for the final game still with something to play for, that would make for a gripping finish. "I look at the table tonight and I know that Blackburn have a home game against Hull City so the gap could open, it could be more than one point," said Mowbray.
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"And yet we felt the other week that Hull are a good team and they can give any team problems, but Blackburn generally find a way to win. At the moment it's one point, we are competing and it's exciting.
"I've just said to the players 'make it exciting right to the death if we can'. Let's go to Preston on the last day with something to play for, but we'll only do that by getting results in the next three games - starting on Tuesday, hopefully with three points against Huddersfield."
Sunderland fell behind against the run of play when George Hall put Birmingham in front on the half-hour, but Trai Hume levelled in first half injury time before Amad scored the winner 15 minutes from the end. Mowbray said: "It was an important time to score our first goal, because we started really sharp in the first ten minutes - particularly down the right-hand side creating chances - and then from one of their first attacks, they go and score.
"It was important to score before half-time to give the dressing room the confidence and belief that we could go on and win the game, and I think we left the dressing room at half-time believing we would go on and win the game. It's finding a way to win, really, isn't it?
"When you've got players like Amad in your team who can do what he did today, and what he did in the reverse fixture which was a very similar type of goal, you've always got a chance. Jack Clarke has done it many times this season, Patrick Roberts has done it, Amad has done it, so we do have players in our team that can unlock the best of defensive units.
"We found a way today to win what was a tough game, an attritional game, against a team that came to try and frustrate us trying to play through them. It's probably the only way we can play because we don't have a target forward or a forward with great speed, so it does give teams a bit of sugar to get some success from us.
"But we kept going and we found a way, so I'm pleased for the players and pleased for the supporters, and we are already in the dressing room looking forward to Tuesday night. We'll be in tomorrow to see who is fit and available, obviously Dennis is suspended now so that throws another selection issue into the scenario for us but we are looking forward to Tuesday and seeing if we can find three points against Huddersfield."
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