The Black Cats were booed off after their final day defeat to QPR and must now lift themselves for their Championship play-off semi-final dates with Coventry City.
THE STORY OF THE GAME
QPR headed for the Stadium of Light on the back of a thumping at the hands of promoted Burnley last week and the exit of their boss Marti Cifuentes a few days later.
They looked, on paper at least, ideal final day opponents. But Sunderland again underwhelmed, again lost and again fired a blank as they limped over the line. The hope now is that, having lost all momentum in recent weeks, they can immediately rediscover top form. The signs weren’t promising here.
Rangers scored the decisive goal after just five minutes when Nicholas Madsen wandered into the box unmarked, received the ball from the right and finished smartly.
Sunderland huffed, puffed and probed but failed to create any clear cut chances until late on when substitute Dan Ballard went close.
In fact, the best chance of the first half after the opening goal fell to QPR when Jonathan Varane broke into the box unopposed but dragged his shot wide of the far post.
The second half was a similar story for Sunderland, who were flat and lacked intensity and finished the season bottom of the Championship form table.
The closest they came was in the dying minutes when the returning Ballard climbed high to win a header and forced a fine save from Joe Walsh.
TALKING POINT
The question is obvious, the answer not so: can Sunderland now flick the switch in the play-offs? No matter what Regis Le Bris says, Sunderland’s head coach will never have imagined his side would lose five straight games to finish the season, even if he did rotate heavily.
Perhaps most worrying is the fact he’s played his full strength side for the last two games and performances haven’t improved. Sunderland lost to both Oxford and QPR, two lowly sides, without scoring a goal. And that’s the other major concern for the Black Cats, their struggle in attack in recent weeks.
Sunderland have scored just one goal in their last six games, and that was Mayenda’s solo wonder strike at Bristol City. They struggled again to create meaningful chances against a QPR side that conceded five to Burnley last week. So, can they now flick the switch?
KEY MOMENT
The goal, obviously.
But that aside, the return of Dan Ballard was a timely boost for the Black Cars but now provides Le Bris with an interesting selection decision for the play-offs.
In his press conference on Friday, Le Bris was keen to stress just how much Ballard has impressed on the training pitches since his return to fitness. So what happens now? Is he deemed ready to go into the starting line-up on Friday? And if so, who is replaced?
It was Chris Mepham who made way when Ballard returned for the final half an hour on Saturday and the Bournemouth loanee feels the most likely candidate to drop out if Le Bris wants Ballard back in the XI, despite his excellence this season.
SUNDERLAND’S BEST
There were no stand-out Sunderland stars. Mepham was solid for an hour and made a couple of crucial first half interceptions.
And there were some classy flashes and decent deliveries from Le Fee. But on the whole Sunderland were flat and lacked intensity and ideas.
WHAT IT MEANS
The most meaningful result of the day for Sunderland came not at the Stadium of Light but at the CBS Arena, where Coventry beat Middlesbrough and, with Bristol City only managing a draw at home to Preston, set up a play-off first leg against the Black Cats.
It was against Sunderland that Frank Lampard’s side delivered their best performance of the season in winning 3-0 in March.
Sunderland must right the wrongs of not only that day and bring an end to their wretched recent run against the Sky Blues. They’ve failed to win any of their last 10 against Coventry, a run stretching back to 2007.
But Le Bris will stress that what has gone before won’t matter. Sunderland must hope that is the case.
