This key Alex Neil Sunderland improvement under ex-Norwich and Preston boss reaping reward - Stephen Elliott

I expected Sunderland to have a bit more of a comfortable afternoon but I should have known better at this stage following this football club.

Seeing Sheffield Wednesday had just scored a late winner themselves I was starting to believe that getting into the play-offs was going to become a lot tougher with not much room for error.

It’s amazing though how a couple of seconds can change people’s emotions leaving a game of football.

Points wise yes the table looks a lot better after Nathan Broadhead guided his superb 96th minute header into the corner but the mental belief the team will have received after that winning goal could be priceless.

We are at the stage of the season where performances aren’t really the be all and end all.

All that matters is getting the three points and moving on to the next game.

Alex Neil has made a huge difference defensively with the team since he has came in and keeping that all important clean sheet.

I believe if Neil had been in charge of this team for longer than those automatic positions would have been achieved. I think he gets the football club and is suited to where the club finds itself at the moment.

I really enjoyed him heading the ball with Broadhead in the post-match footage of the ‘manager cam’.

It shows how invested he is at the moment and tells me he is kicking every ball with his team.

I’ve said on here a few times that offensively there are not much better squads in the division than Sunderland’s.

With both Alex Pritchard and now Patrick Roberts looking like they can unlock a defence at any moment, if Sunderland can keep the back door shut there is always a chance that Sunderland will come out on top over the next six games.

Danny Batth came back in and I thought it was his most assured performance.

If he can continue this form then he could be a major player alongside Bailey Wright.

Again I think the manager with his no-nonsense approach must be giving credit for him performing the way he did. Both Batth and Wright’s experience will be invaluable over the next few weeks.

I was delighted for Broadhead also to get the winner as that will help him a lot going into this important period.

He would have had a mentally tough time with his injury and I think we seen with his celebration what that goal meant to him.

There will be a few twists and turns but I can’t help feel that next week’s fixture against Oxford will have a big say on whether Sunderland will be in the play-offs or not come the end of the season.

Both teams will be aware of what is at stake and it should be a cracker.

We must all believe and stick together.

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