Former Sunderland star points to main concern in promotion push as ex-Sheff Wed man bemoans Black Cats defeat

Former Sunderland defender Danny Collins has identified a main concern as the Black Cats continue their push for promotion into the Premier League.

Regis Le Bris’ side sit in the automatic promotion spots in the Championship ahead of Tuesday night’s home clash with promotion rivals West Bromwich Albion - but they are also without a win in their last four games after drawing with Queens Park Rangers, Preston North End, Coventry City and Millwall. Crucially, the last two of those draws have come after the Black Cats had taken the lead.

It should be added Sunderland are undefeated in their last nine games but their inability to close out games in recent weeks has seen them slip into second place in the table - and Collins has admitted the Black Cats stance once going ahead has concerned him over that time.

He told Total Sport: “Second halves for me is a concern. It was a carbon copy of the Coventry game, really, where we had a good 30/35 minutes against Coventry, got the goals, and should’ve put them to bed. We come out second half, sat off, and almost invited them onto us, and that was the same case for me at the weekend.”

Former Wednesday defender makes Sunderland play-off admission

Former Sheffield Wednesday defender Harlee Dean has admitted the Owls were ‘like rabbits in headlights’ during the first leg of their League One play-off clash with Sunderland in 2022.

The former Brentford and Birmingham City man was part of the Owls side that travelled to the Stadium of Light for the first leg as a Ross Stewart goal gave the Black Cats a narrow advantage - albeit one that could and should have been more decisive after a largely dominant display from the men in red and white. It was Wednesday that struck first in the second leg at Hillsborough four days later as Lee Gregory put them in front with just quarter of an hour remaining. However, Sunderland had the last laugh as a late Patrick Roberts strike sent them to Wembley, where they were secure a long-awaited return to the Championship as Stewart and Elliott Embleton netted in a 2-0 win against Wycombe Wanderers.

Speaking on the Under the Cosh podcast, Dean said of the semi-final tie: “That first leg at Sunderland we were like rabbits in headlights. We did not know it was coming like that. The manager said he’d made a mistake in terms of formation or whatever it was. We got away with it to finish 1-0. We got that first goal (Lee Gregory’s to take things level in the second leg) and the stadium just changed, the energy changed and you thought we would go and do this. I played at Wembley, Villa Blues, that was the closest thing to those two games but I still think they were better.”