Neil: I had so much belief in my players
“We’re on an unbelievable run in terms of the results we have put together and all these players deserve a great deal of credit.
“But for us, it’s only got us to an opportunity now.
“Although we are happy and we’re pleased and we’ve celebrated tonight, soon we have have to get our minds on the next one.
“I’m going to go home, spend a couple of days with the kids, and then think about Wycombe in a couple of days’ time.”
Lee Gregory put the Owls ahead 15 minutes from time, levelling the scores on aggregate.
But in the fourth minute of injury-time, Patrick Roberts applied the finish to a Jack Clarke cross to send the Black Cats through.
Neil said: “The minute Jack got in behind, I thought we’re in business here. Then Patrick’s movement and the quality of his finish was great.
“The emotion I felt was hard to describe – relief, pride, there’s a whole host of emotions go in there.
“I was so pleased for the players tonight because they do get written-off. I can’t remember how many people were tipping Sheffield Wednesday to be favourites, so they can put that in their pipe, can’t they?”
Neil had not made any substitutions before the goal, and he says that was a sign of how much confidence he had in his starting XI to get the job done.
“That’s probably the first time I haven’t made early changes and the reason I didn’t make them was that I just had so much belief in that team to get the result we needed, and if I changed it I might dilute it,” he said.
“I’m really pleased that I stuck to my guns.
“You have to be brave in those moments because what will happen is that if it doesn’t work in your favour, you will naturally get criticised and people will say that players were flagging and you should have changed it.
“I just have so much faith in that team and they delivered again.”