Coleman’s apology as team ‘come up short’

CHRIS Coleman has apologised to Sunderland fans after the club’s relegation to League One was sealed with a home defeat against Burton Albion.

The Black Cats were leading through Paddy McNair’s first-half strike, only for a late leveller from ex-Sunderland man Darren Bent and then an injury-time winner from Liam Boyce to consign the Wearsiders to the third tier for only the second time in the club’s 139-year history.

“Firstly, I’d like to apologise to everybody, the supporters, for coming up short and ultimately not having what was needed,” said Coleman, whose side has been relegated with two games to spare.

“It was a brutal experience, the disappointment is huge.

“Maybe it was blind optimism with three games to go, but even with five minutes to go [today] we were in the driving seat, we were winning.

“We didn’t play very well today. The five games previously, we were very, very good, but today you could see both teams were nervous and edgy.

“We were in the lead, the atmosphere in the ground was great, everyone was singing because it looked OK, and then it all changed.

“We are 44 games into the season and we haven’t been good enough.

“Sorry to the supporters who have stuck with us and come here every week and followed us away from home, we haven’t been good enough – we’ve fallen short, and I apologise to them.”

Birmingham City’s win over Sheffield United means Sunderland – who have 34 points and are six points from safety – can no longer overtake the Blues.

And with next-to-bottom Burton and fourth-bottom Bolton Wanderers due to meet next weekend, one of those two sides will also move out of reach of the Black Cats, which means Coleman’s side cannot escape the bottom three.

The finish to the game was so frenetic, with McNair seeing a late equaliser – which would have kept Sunderland in the survival hunt – controversially ruled out for a handball, that it took time for the realisation to dawn within the stadium that relegation had been confirmed, although Coleman knew the situation.

He said: “Word spread when they got back in the dressing room. I think the disappointment today was that this was the worst we have played in six weeks.

“The feeling after the game was that we had just given up three points that we had in the bag, and that’s settled our future.”