A goal for the ages on a memorable night for Cats
Around 65 minutes had been played and something strange was beginning to happen.
The dominant noise was the 2,000 high up in the Leppings Lane End, the sell-out crowd around them subdued and even starting to grow a little restless.
Ittoldyoueverythingabout wherethebeliefwasinthatmoment. The first half had been nervy for Sunderland. Half time was a chance to breathe, reset, and in the period after theywerenothingshortofoutstanding.
JackClarkewentclosefrom the edge of the box, Patrick Roberts was denied only by a superb last-ditch block and then a good Bailey PeacockFarrell save.
The Black Cats were winning their aerial duels, allowingthemtogetupthepitchand control the contest. And then along came Barry Bannan. In the first leg, Sunderland had nullified Bannan, who essentially ended up a bystander.
Here Darren Moore unsurprisingly brought in Josh Windass after his impressive cameo at the Stadium of Light. Bannan drifted and drifted, passed and passed, waited and waited. It was merely the slightest second that Sunderland switched off but when they did, the Scot was there in that left-hand channel to punish them.
Timestoodstill,asplit-second that felt like an eternity as it dawned on you. Sunderland had been sliced up and the game was up. A good cross to the front post, a good finish from Lee Gregory. It looked a long old road back.
It was in these moments, though, that a moment of Sunderland history was born.
Neil threw his arm out in despair but quickly regained his composure. He whistled for Danny Batth's attention, the centre back again imposing here but just beaten to that cross by Gregory.
He motioned for calm, to
settle until they felt they were offtheropes.Batthnoddedand rather than throwing bodies straight forward, Sunderland rode the wave and took it deep.
Neil opted against making a change. It was a bold call, because the running from the front four had been relentless and there were times when it wasshowing,particularlyafter such a quick turnaround from the first leg.
It had been the first time he had named an unchanged team since taking charge, his logic being that Sunderland couldn't afford just to sit in for 90 minutes.
"I had so much belief in that team and what they were doing, we didn't deserve to be trailing," he said afterwards.
It left Sunderland with an advantage in two key areas.
Minutes before the equaliser, Moore was forced into a defensive change after Sam Hutchinson suffered a concussion. He also made a key gamble, throwing on the forward-thinking Nathaniel Mendez-Laing at wing-back.
Clarke had been excellent from minute one, digging in to protect Dennis Cirkin as Wednesdaytargetedthatflank. When ten minutes of added timewasannounced,helooked just about out on his feet. So when Batth picks up possession in his own half, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of danger. Somehow, Clarke finds another gear. MendezLaingstepsinandswitchesoff,
and from nowhere an intake of breath. Is this on?
Clarke looks up, shuffles into the box. Just when you expect him to cut inside and drive across goal, he goes to thebylineanddrivesitlowwith his left. Liam Palmer, brought on to replace Hutchinson, had been given a difficult brief in a game of this intensity and tension. Roberts is alive to his team-mate's plan and bursts into the six-yard box.
He has flickered throughout the two legs, pushing Wednesdaybackwithoutquite getting that real, clear chance. This is his moment, and from here there is no way he is missing. Peacock-Farrell is beaten and for a moment a silence descends.
Wait, what? This isn't what Sunderland do. This isn't us. This never happens to us.
A wall of noise cascades from up high and in it there is surprise,relief,sheerjoy.Then there are limbs flailing everywhere.Neil'spoisehasbeenhis greatest virtue in the eye of all Sunderland's storms, but even he gives into this moment. He leaps into the night and roars, and then it is quickly back to business.
Jay Matete and Nathan Broadhead on, for energy and an outlet to relieve pressure. Callum Doyle on for another body in the box.
Nine minutes that seem to drag on to ninety but Sunderland hold on and they do so with relative ease, winning theirheadersastheydidforthe bulk of these two legs.
There has been little in it, but they are worthy winners.
They have dug in and they have shown their resilience, and yet again they have gone right to the end. Under Neil they have started to rewrite the definition of 'typical Sunderland'.
Bailey Wright conducts his post-match interview with blood dripping from his face andone-by-one,theyqueueup to echo a clear message: This is aspecialmomentbutthemain job is still to be done.
And no one should underestimate the challenge that lies ahead. First, a moment to take abreathandsay,yes,thatreally did just happen.