Sunderland AFC fan blog: Black Cats need to produce season best to beat Portsmouth and Fleetwood

Well, after their 1-1 draw against Peterborough United, it is looking as if it will be a hard task if they want to claim automatic promotion.

Max Power had given Sunderland the lead but Sunderland allowed Matt Godden to get his shot away in the 91st minute to score the equaliser, Sunderland allowing Ivan Toney to easily play the ball to Godden.

Also, on Easter Monday, Portsmouth came back from an early Jordy Hiwula strike, to win 2-1 courtesy of goals from Tom Naylor and Brett Pitman, in the early kickoff, so the Black Cats knew that they had to win. While Sunderland were playing against Peterborough, Barnsley were running riot at Plymouth.

These results combined with the Lads’ 1-1 draw means Sunderland are now four points away from Barnsley with a game in hand, so the Black Cats can’t even catch the Tykes with a win over Fleetwood in their game in hand.

Saturday’s home match against Portsmouth is even more crucial, as, if they lose, they will be five points behind Portsmouth, and it will be near impossible for the Lads to catch Pompey.

Although they have dropped seven points in the last two weeks, Sunderland will have to put in their best performance of the season, and hope that Portsmouth are not on their game, almost like they were in the first half at Wembley.

Hopefully by this time next week, we are still in the hunt for automatic promotion, but it will need two huge performances against Portsmouth and Fleetwood.