Sunderland fan blog: A day that even the best script-writers simply couldn’t make up

It was a script that you just thought had been written.

Millwall held a three-one cushion at home to an out-of-form Blackburn at the Den, whilst Coventry were one goal to the good at the Riverside, and Liam Delap was set free. 

As the ball rolled past a helpless Anthony Patterson, you’d be forgiven to have thought that the Black Cats’ play-off ambitions was now one big massive mountain to climb. 

The ball rolled millimetres wide of the left post, and the rest is history. 

Sunderland simply had no right to finish here. 

But, over the course of a remarkable 46-game first campaign back in the Championship, the Black Cats have earned this right. 

And in a play-off race that has seemed ever so desperate to have Tony Mowbray’s side included, there was always going to be another twist in the tale.

Even if just before the half-time interval on the final day, it had seemed as though Sunderland were massive outcasts in this utterly unbelievable narrative. 

Yet, Mowbray’s side will live to fight another day. They stand on the edge of pure glory: a story that no one would have ever believed a year ago. 

And indeed, Sunderland won’t go down without a fight. Luton will be a mammoth task for this maturing group of players, but they won’t be phased, and neither will Mowbray on the touchline. 

His old talisman, Ben Breteton Diaz, has come back to the aid of his former gaffer in what looks like his last appearance for Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side. Many from a red-and-white contingent will allow the striker’s controversial goal against the Wearsiders back in October to be erased from the memory. 

His double turned the game on its head at the Den, and opened the door for one last time for the Black Cats – one where they’ve stepped into with relative optimism about the next week. 

All in all, it was a day that even the best script-writers simply couldn’t make up. 

Sunderland are in the Championship play-offs.