Phil Smith's verdict: The bold Alex Neil strategy that paid off as Sunderland continue to impress

It was an approach Alex Neil admitted you couldn’t get away with every time.
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But the end result here was the best performance of his tenure so far, one that represented another significant step forward for his Sunderland side.

The game swung on a contentious red card, without a doubt.

Lloyd Jones and his Cambridge United side felt he was unlucky to see red even if he had clearly impeded Ross Stewart in the box, but his manager also conceded that even in the ten minutes before that the Black Cats had been in the ascendancy.

Nathan Broadhead scores Sunderland's fourth goalNathan Broadhead scores Sunderland's fourth goal
Nathan Broadhead scores Sunderland's fourth goal
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It was a selection from Neil to reflect the stakes at play. Sunderland could not afford to drop points here, with the race for the League One play-offs the most competitive in the 21st century so far.

So the head coach went as aggressive as he possibly could, three centre backs and two wing backs operating deep in the opposition half.

With Elliot Embleton operating as an additional playmaker in the midfield two, it was an ultra-attacking shape even before you consider how often the defenders on either side of the back three are asked to step out with the ball.

Neil conceded it was high risk, that losing the ball in dangerous areas would allow the visitors to quickly get a numerical advantage on the counter attack.

Elliot Embleton celebrates his audacious free kickElliot Embleton celebrates his audacious free kick
Elliot Embleton celebrates his audacious free kick
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Aside from their one goal during a rare lapse of concentration, they never did.

“That was a real focus of our discussion before the game, making sure that when we control the ball, we didn’t give it away because we would get broken on down the flanks,” Neil explained afterwards.

“We did that aspect of the game really well. You try to give yourself a dilemma across their backline of who deals with who.

“We’ve ended up going four on four, then what happens is we can get balls into the box and commit numbers into the middle.

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“There’s a risk attached to that because your numbers behind that aren’t in the right positions; your wing-backs are playing very high.

“We understand where the difficulty lies in that, but today, we decided it was the way to go, and it worked really well.”

The final scoreline was of course impacted by the red card to a large extent, Mark Bonner saying it made a very difficult task for his side almost impossible.

It was also down to an aggressive pressing performance from Sunderland’s front line, Embleton’s excellence in possession and the quality in the wide areas.

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It was also down to the way Bailey Wright and Danny Batth won their duels against an isolated Joe Ironside, denying the visitors their one real outlet to get up the pitch and relieve the pressure.

Neil said it could have been double figures in the end, Bonner admitted it could have been anything.

Sunderland have now taken 26 points from Neil’s 13 games in charge, a statistic all the more impressive when you consider how tumultuous the fortnight preceding his arrival had been, and that it took four attempts to secure his first win.

We have seen his side dig in and churn out victories on the back of clean sheets, but this was an altogether more dynamic and confident display.

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Even more impressive when you step back and look at the gaps he continues to cover.

He has good individuals for the level to call on all over the pitch, yes, but the squad he inherited was unbalanced and continues to pose problems.

Dennis Cirkin has been one of his key players in recent weeks, excelling on the left of a back three by bringing pace, calm on the ball and protection to the wing back in front of him who is invariably a winger by trade.

In his absence, Carl Winchester was asked to step across to the left, another unfamiliar role for the Northern Irishman.

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His groin injury ten minutes into the game underlined the paucity of defensive options Neil continues to contend with, and served as another reminder of why the road to promotion remains a daunting one even for this impressive unit.

To look as cohesive and organised even for all those injury issues is an impressive feat, and one for which Neil was quick to hand the praise over to his players. That there is a mutual respect between him and his squad is increasingly obvious.

Neil joked afterwards that the league table ‘is doing his head in’. Sunderland have now won seven of their last ten and yet the excellence of the teams around them mean on only a handful of occasions have those three points translated into real progress up the table.

That was the same again here, to an extent. Wycombe Wanderers kept the race ferociously competitive with a win at Sheffield Wednesday, while Plymouth Argyle took a more than creditable point from a challenging away fixture at Wigan Athletic.

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Sunderland’s fate is firmly in their own hands but it remains too close to call.

The positive for Sunderland is that in contrast to previous campaigns, they are ending the campaign with their momentum growing and the feel-good factor on Wearside rising by the game.

If Sunderland can find their way into the top six, they look injuries aside as well placed as they ever have done.

It’s still a big if for now but Neil’s side are instilling belief; an achievement in itself.