Fan blog: Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday are two clubs going in completely opposite directions

You just have to look at this Sheffield Wednesday side and feel a sense of admiration of what Sunderland are building.

Wednesday, a historic club with a backdrop of immense pride, are on a free fall.

The euphoria of May’s remarkable play-off campaign, which saw them come from four down against Peterborough in the semi-finals and net an injury-time winner at Wembley, has very quickly dissipated.

Now a sense of abject fear for the future fills these very stands that were bouncing only months earlier.

Off the pitch, financial and ownership troubles surround the club, while on it Xisco Munoz is slowly losing control with only two points in the opening nine.

For Sunderland, there is a mutual understanding of the feeling. It wasn’t long ago since The Black Cats were in a state of despair themselves, but on this evening their own resurgence was proven once again.

On another day, they might have crumbled under the pressure of a side that hadn’t won in the league all season but no, not on this evening.

Tony Mowbray’s side hardly moved out of second gear, with the contest being all but crushed in the space of eight first-half minutes.

A man-of-the-match display from Jack Clarke moved him to top of the league’s goalscoring charts, while everywhere you looked across the Hillsborough turf there were some immense performances.

If you wanted to see two clubs whose trajectories lie in completely opposite directions, this was the game that summed it up.

The three empty sides of Hillsborough proved Wednesday’s turmoil, while in the Leppings Lane Stand those in red-and-white were heralded.

The inside feel around Sunderland is one of massive optimism and with two big home tests to come in the next week, there is a real chance to build some momentum and push on before October’s international break.

After that, who knows what will happen?