Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris admits he was preparing for penalties

Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris admits he was preparing for a penalty shoot-out prior to Dan Ballard’s dramatic winner against Coventry on Tuesday night.

Even by the Championship play-offs’ standards, Ballard’s stoppage-time goal was incredibly dramatic, and Le Bris said he was readying himself for even more drama.

Asked if he was mentally preparing for penalties, Le Bris told Sky Sports: "Yes, absolutely we were. We were on our list, who will score, but this final corner kick was absolutely fantastic for Ballard.

"It’s really fantastic, because the scenario was absolutely incredible. We were probably too nervous for the first part of the game and during the extra-time I think we were good."

Despite taking a 2-1 lead back to the Stadium of Light, the Black Cats didn’t have things all their own way on the night, but Le Bris felt going behind on the night helped them.

"Yeah it was a little bit frustrating because we knew on the bench that we could play better football,” said Le Bris.

"It’s a semi-final at home, and [one goal] up I think we were between two attitudes, so after the goal it was clear that now we wanted to score and the game changed."

Having topped the table in November, a six-game winless run saw the Black Cats fall to fourth position where they would for the rest of the campaign.

As the big three of Leeds United, Burnley and Sheffield United began to pull away, it was clear Sunderland’s only hopes of promotion were via the play-offs, though their preparation was far from ideal.

After a 0-0 draw at Norwich in April, Sunderland lost five straight matches leading into the play-offs, setting up a two-legged tie with Coventry.

There are now 10 days until Sunderland head back to Wembley for the third time in five years to face Sheffield United and Le Bris says the preparations will begin in earnest

“On Thursday we’ll switch on for the final,” said Le Bris. “For now, it’s a question of just enjoying, recovering and we’ll switch on the final very quickly.”

Liam Williams

• Sunderland A.F.C.
• Championship
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