Sheffield United 1-2 Sunderland: Black Cats late show stuns Blades to earn Premier League return | OneFootball

Eliezer Mayenda and the departing Tom Watson seal remarkable turnaround as Black Cats win dramatic Championship play-of final at Wembley

Tom Watson provided a £220million parting gift as he fired Sunderland back into the Premier League in dramatic fashion at Wembley.

It has been a long, hard road back to the Premier League for Sunderland, who suffered two straight relegations in 2017 and 2018, and spent four years in League One before finally returning to the second tier in 2022 and quickly rising into promotion contenders.

Sunderland were indebted to goalkeeper Anthony Patterson for not falling behind within just two minutes, the former England Under-21 international producing a staggering one-handed reflex save low to his left to repel Kieffer Moore’s powerful header after the Wales striker had been teed up perfectly by Gustavo Hamer.

Luke O’Nien tried to challenge Moore but suffered a dislocated shoulder in the process, receiving lengthy treatment on the pitch before being replaced by Chris Mepham in a huge early blow.

Sheffield United continued to pour through their nervous opponents at will, seeing numerous efforts blocked before they actually took the lead with a ruthless counter-attack.

After quickly clearing a poor Sunderland corner, Championship Player of the Season Hamer sprinted down the left before playing a brilliant pass inside for Tyrese Campbell, who coolly lifted the ball over Patterson to spark pandemonium on one side of an all-red-and-white Wembley.

The Blades continued to look dangerous and thought they had gone 2-0 up when left-back Harrison Burrows brilliantly fired through a crowd of bodies and in from outside the box after a corner, only for referee Chris Kavanagh to be referred to the pitchside monitor by VAR John Brooks and rule it out for an offside Vinicius Souza impacting Patterson.

Sunderland ended the half in the ascendancy with eight minutes of stoppage time added after O’Nien’s early injury, but just could not find a quality final ball despite some bright moments from the likes of Mayenda and 17-year-old midfielder Chris Rigg, who came into the team at Wembley along with the fit-again Romaine Mundle.

Sunderland were much improved straight after the interval, though still could not really test Michael Cooper in the Sheffield United goal as Rigg then made a vital challenge on Rhian Brewster inside the box.

Patterson made another vital stop to deny Blades substitute Andre Brooks after a mistake by Dennis Cirkin, a save that was perhaps not as eye-catching as his earlier one from Moore but just as instrumental as Mayenda then went on to blast home an equaliser with less than 15 minutes to play after being played in by impactful substitute Patrick Roberts, who started on the bench after a calf issue.

Suddenly Sunderland were soaring with confidence as Sheffield United went from comfortable to totally rattled, the stage set for Watson to pop up deep into stoppage time and stroke into the bottom corner calmly from the edge of the box after Moore had been caught in possession.