Sunderland secured a 2-1 lead in the first leg of their Championship play-off semi final against Coventry City

Sunderland legend Kevin Phillips praised Dan Ballard's 'awesome' performance in the first leg win over Coventry City.

Ballard was recalled to the starting XI by Régis Le Bris after completing his recovery from a hamstring injury and was named man of the match as the Black Cats secured a 2-1 lead in the first leg. Sunderland won despite having less than 30% possession and Phillips, who was working as a pundit for Sky Sports, said that owed much to Ballard's dominance.

"He was awesome, thoroughly deserved man of the match," Phillips said.

"He's been brought back into the team and played with an authority, put his head on everything, made blocks, commanded the backline. He gave very little change to their strikers. Him and Luke O'Nien compliment each other well. He puts his head on everything which is what you want your defender to do.

"He can handle the ball and make passes but he's just an out-and-out, solid defender."

Kevin Phillips delivers verdict on how Sunderland will approach the second leg

Phillips said that he didn't expect Sunderland to make 'drastic' changes to their game plan for the second leg. While he does not think they will defend as deep as they did at the CBS Arena, he said staying disciplined out of possession was the right approach.

"Regis is a very composed person, he doesn't get too animated," Phillips said.

"That's probably the most animated you've seen him all season.You could see when the final whistle went that the staff were making sure the players weren't getting carried away. The players know, there's enough experience there with people like Luke O'Nien, Dan Ballard, to make sure the players stay calm.

"They've done half the job, they will go into the game on Tuesday as favourites. There's going to be an electric atmosphere which will help the players immensely. There's still a job to do, they can't take their foot off the gas.

"They've performed in a great atmosphere here so that won't phase them. They've dealt with that all season. The game plan won't change because they're at home. The crowd will demand that they're on the front but they'll be disciplined. I think it'll be similar, they might have more control of the ball but they're in a great position. I don't think they'll change drastically. As long as they don't sit deep, which I don't think they will... they don't need to make drastic changes. If they get the first goal it will be difficult for Coventry."

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