‘This is a career high...and there’s more on the way’

PATRICK Roberts rates sending Sunderland to Wembley as one of the highlights of his career – but admits it would pale in comparison to helping the club back into the Championship.

Roberts’s 94th minute goal at Hillsborough on Monday gave Sunderland a 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday on the night, and a 2-1 win on aggregate in the play-off semi-final.

And that has earned the Black Cats a Wembley date with Wycombe in the League One play-off final a week on Saturday. Midfielder Roberts joined Sunderland from Manchester City in January and he arrived on Wearside with a clutch of honours to his name, having helped Celtic win the Scottish Premiership title three times, and having also won two Scottish Cups and two Scottish League Cups, during loan spells with the Glasgow club.

He has also won silverware while on loan at Spanish club Girona, and also with England’s youth sides. But he says the feeling after scoring in the play-off semi-final was among the best moments of his career.

“I’ve had a few big moments in my time, in different places, but that was definitely right up there,” said the 25-year-old. “I’ve obviously won a few trophies, and been in some top teams and been around some good players, but I think a journey like this, for a club like this, is definitely right up there in terms of a career high. It’s not over yet, though. There are more things to write, and I’m just glad to have had the opportunity to be part of it.

“There’s obviously still one more game to go, and hopefully we can make some more history. That’s what I came to this club to do. I came with the aim of winning promotion. We all know that’s the aim, and we’ve all been really focused on that.

“It’s the same for all of us – from the lads who have been here for the last four years to the lads like me that came in January. It took me and Jack [Clarke, with the on-loan Spurs man providing the assist] on Monday, and we’ve only come in since January, but we know what it’s like. We know what it feels like to be part of a huge club, and the aim is to get back to where the club should be. It’s just one game, though – and now we need to go again in the next one.”

Sunderland held a one-goal lead going into the second leg, having won 1-0 on Wearside on Friday. The Black Cats dominated that game but in the return in South Yorkshire they had to withstand heavy pressure from the Owls. Eventually, Lee Gregory put the hosts ahead and levelled the tie, but Roberts had the final word in the 94th minute. He said: “We knew it would be tough.

“The first game was a complete opposite; we knew we had to go at them. They’re a good team, especially at home.

“We knew it would be hard with their fans, but we had to show that confidence and belief and determination to go anywhere to win.

“I thought we were brilliant. Defensively, we had to be sound. They put some big guys on late on to try to terrorise us a bit, but we stayed strong. We stuck to our guns and it paid off in the end.”

The goal came when Clarke surged forward into the penalty area down the left and got the better of Jordan Storey, before squaring for Roberts to sweep home six yards out. “I’m sure on another day he would have wanted to have scored himself, but it just shows the togetherness we have,” said Roberts.

There are more things to write, and I’m just glad to have had the opportunity to be part of it Patrick Roberts