Dan Neil's strong Sunderland message fans will love as he reflects on a remarkable season and what comes next

So the number of ticket requests he's had tells him that this trip to Preston North End is a big one. There will be some disappointment, because a near 6,000 away end sold out rapidly and there are precious few going spare.

Somehow, Sunderland's first campaign back in the Championship has ended here - a shootout for the top six that no one wants to miss.

There is a welcome clarity to Sunderland's position, even if the 2-2 draw with Watford did bring with it some frustration. Neil and his side know that it is pointless focusing on anyone but themselves and the Preston side in front of them, because without a win they have no chance. Beyond that, it is out of their hands.

Neil, like his head coach Tony Mowbray, says it is pointless looking beyond Monday's game but the mood in the dressing room is positive and there is a determination to try and seize an unexpected opportunity.

"Initially, it was a case of, ‘Let’s just stay in the league’," he said.

'But now, we’re thinking, ‘Why not? Why can’t we go up this year?’ When is the right time to go to the Premier League? When will you get your next opportunity? We’ve got an opportunity this year, and I think we need to go all guns blazing to try to take it. In the last three weeks, all the results have massively gone in our favour really.

"We probably couldn’t have dreamed of a better scenario really, other than beating Watford last weekend, which would have been a bit better. We’ve given ourselves every chance – we just need to go to Preston and get a win, and hopefully everything will go our way."

The inexperience of the squad at the level, allied with the huge injury list and at times a daunting run of fixtures, have meant there have been large spells when it looked as if the play-offs would end up just out of reach.

At the last international break Sunderland had come through a punishing run of fixtures just about intact but as the big games kept coming and so did the injuries, the top six was a long shot. Since then, Sunderland have been unbeaten.

“There have been so many ups and downs over the course of the season," Neil said.

"We were going great, but then we had that little spell around February time, around the time of the Rotherham game, and that just seemed to take the wind out of everyone’s sails. I think that was the point where everyone really thought, ‘Right, it’s not going to happen’.

"Then we picked up again, but when we drew the game against Huddersfield, again I think people probably thought, ‘Right, that’s it’.

"But then we’ve kept plugging away and we’ve just had a run where other results have gone our way. We’re unbeaten since the international break, we’ve picked up good points and good wins, and we’re right back in the mix now.

"It doesn’t feel like there’s been a lot of pressure, probably because at various stages, people have probably thought that it’s too much for us. That’s meant that we’ve been able to go out there and not really have to think about the bigger picture. We’ve been able to just go out there and play.

“I think last season was similar, really. I think when we had the Doncaster result and the Wimbledon result, people probably thought that was it. There was a sense of, ‘Well, it’s not going to happen this year’.

"The pressure was off a bit, and it was maybe a bit of a free hit, but we just kept on winning and winning and winning, and ended up going up. Hopefully, it’ll be a similar story this year."

Neil signed a new, extended contract this year, a sign of his belief that he can realise his Premier League ambitions on Wearside.

He has embodied the way this side have kept their campaign alive, overhauling his game and taking on significant responsibility since Corry Evans' injury.

Whatever happens on Monday, Neil wants the club to maintain their upward trajectory: “I’m pleased with the way the whole team has performed.

"For most of the lads, it’s their first season in the Championship. To be even in with a chance of getting into the play-offs at this stage is credit to all the lads and all the coaching staff. With having such a young group, I think we’ve all got that hunger to impress and prove that we are ready for this level, if not the level above. Experience can be good, but sometimes that bit of inexperience and hunger to prove yourself can really help at this level.

“What we can’t do is take our foot off the gas. There’s no point the club being on an upward trajectory, and then everyone settling for a period of standing still. You’ve got to keep improving and pushing forward. Whatever happens in the next few weeks, we’ll have our time off in the summer and recover, but then we have to come back for pre-season making sure we keep the trajectory going upwards. We can’t rest on what we’ve done this season. If we don’t go up this year, we want to go up next year. If we do go up this year, we want to stay up. There’s always challenges with every season. They’re a bit different to when we were in League One, and the pressure was there to get out of the league. Now, it’s almost a nice pressure. We’re in a good place, but we are still pushing and striving to go further.”