Phil Smith's verdict: Late heartbreak can't hide Sunderland's exciting progress after bold postponement decision

In the first it is year one of a new project in which the progress is heartening. In the second a club of top-tier stature is in its fourth at League One level, and the thought of another is barely tolerable.

So when a 98-minute equaliser flies into the bottom corner, turning three potentially crucial points into one, the disappointment is visceral.

So near yet so far, as it too often has been at this level.

Joe Jacobson's late strike had strong echoes of Matt Godden at Peterborough United three years ago, when the flares and flailing limbs of just minutes before turned to despair.

All the same there is something just a little different about this season, and to see that all you had to do was turn your attention back to the away end when the final whistle blew just 60 seconds or so later.

"Lee Johnson's red-and-white army" sung with gusto, the players met with thunderous applause when they came over to salute their travelling support.

There is a clear feeling that this the start of a journey worth following, and that it may yet to deliver the prize of promotion this time around.

Wycombe Wanderers boss Gareth Ainsworth, it should be said, was right to say that his side just about shaded the first half.

Despite an outstanding start, a fine cross from Dennis Cirkin and a superb header from Ross Stewart, the home side quickly began to build the rhythm that makes them such a formidable outfit on home turf.

There is a reason why it looked like one of the sternest tests of the season yet, even before a COVID-19 outbreak left Sunderland almost unable to field a team.

In their relentless set piece threat, superb organisation in constantly getting onto second balls, they looked like exactly the kind of side who an otherwise promising unit had so struggled against earlier in the season.

It didn't quite play out to that extreme, Sunderland a counter-attacking threat throughout. But even if there looked to be a foul on Anthony Patterson in the build up to

Wycombe's second, no one could say it was against the run of play.

Sunderland looked to be drifting, but a goal of peak POMO levelled the scores at the break and afterwards Johnson's side were simply superb.

Alex Pritchard almost produced a hat-trick of assists in the first ten minutes, denied only by a strong David Stockdale save and two loose touches from team-mates.

That set the tone for a half in which the Black Cats regularly opened up the opposition defence, Ross Stewart relentless and supported well by those behind him.

The disappointment of Jacobson's late goal was acute, particularly because it was one that Johnson felt lessons of the past should have prevented.

He was relatively sanguine with the corner itself, something which can happen in the dying embers when bodies are thrown forward. What frustrated him in particular were the moments before the set play, when his side failed to get an extra body in their defensive line to help snuff out the growing danger.

That was a sign of some long-standing vulnerabilities still not stamped out, but the quality of Sunderland's attacking play throughout the half was inarguable.

For large swathes of the second half the home side were hanging on, Ainsworth conceding the Black Cats 'had much the better of it'.

Good goalkeeping, the woodwork and some slightly errant finishing denied Johnson's side what would have been something of a statement win.

After all, there had been some doubt as to whether this game would go ahead in the first place.

With both senior goalkeepers out with COVID-19 and cases mounting elsewhere in the squad, there was more than adequate grounds to request a postponement.

Rightly, Sunderland decided to recall three of their loanees and get the game on.

It was a nod to the travelling support who had in many cases already begun a challenging journey due to the broadcasting arrangements, and also a strong show of trust in the young talent just outside the core starting XI.

After all, the feeling behind the scenes is that there is very little between the club's three goalkeepers to begin with, and an excellent early reflex save from Patterson underlined that.

Jack Diamond, meanwhile, came off the bench to good effect, driving at the tiring Wycombe defence and making good decisions in possession.

That was more evidence of a club unmistakably trending upwards.

The list of absentees due to injuries and COVID ran comfortably into the double figures, but Sunderland nevertheless would have been good value for the win on one of the toughest grounds in the league to get a result.

Had they done so, then it may well have been advantage Black Cats on the day that an FA Cup win added yet another fixture to Wigan Athletic's already daunting schedule.

As it is Leam Richardson's side remain well placed, and for Wycombe the late goal kept their own top-two aspirations firmly alive.

Sunderland still track at two points-per-game, though, their unbeaten run extended and their forward play only growing stronger.

The future is looking increasingly bright.

As for that promotion tilt?

Well, they're right in it. And there is something to be said for that, particularly when this was a day that started with some doubt as to whether there would be XI players available in the first place.

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