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When Régis Le Bris first took charge of Sunderland last summer he was so anonymous it took a good couple of weeks before fellow guests in his hotel realised who he was.
Ten months on the lowest of low key managerial appointments is one game away from the Premier League after Dan Ballard’s headed goal from Enzo Le Fée’s corner at the end of extra time sparked a joyous pitch invasion.
In levelling the scores on the night it offered Sunderland a 3-2 aggregate victory in a playoff semi-final they would surely have lost had Frank Lampard’s impressive Coventry managed to turn possession into goals.
Then just as penalties beckoned and Le Bris looked to have left a game-changing tactical shift too late, the excellent Ballard clinched a Wembley date with Sheffield United a week on Saturday.
Le Bris is not a man to neglect homework and, sure enough, his Coventry studies prompted the decision to shift the Stadium of Light’s perimeter advertising hoardings forward, moving them two metres closer to the pitch. The idea was to reduce the threat posed by Milan van Ewijk from long throws by restricting the right back’s room for manoeuvre.
Throw in reports that, at the end of an unusually warm May Day on Wearside, the remotely controlled heating in the away dressing room had been turned up to the maximum temperature and it was quite the welcome for Lampard’s players. As if that was not sufficient Coventry emerged from the tunnel to be greeted by a giant Sunderland fans’ banner depicting a black cat with terrifying claws, sharply bared teeth and chillingly ferocious eyes.
Le Bris’s Black Cats may not have been quite that formidable in the first leg but they left the Midlands holding a precious 2-1 lead. Le Bris stuck to the 4-4-2 formation that had ruined Lampard’s night but, although the Frenchman had suggested that, rather than repeat last Friday’s low block, his team would be “proactive” and in front foot, high pressing mode, this version was almost as cautious.
When a counterattacking Wilson Isidor tried to seize the initiative he ended up with a yellow card as his dive on the edge of the penalty area following zero contact from Coventry’s Liam Kitching resulted in a booking.
Yet if Lampard’s much admired attacking midfielder, Jack Rudoni always looked capable of hurting his hosts, Sunderland could not be underestimated on the break. Tellingly Coventry’s centre halves at times struggled in the face of Eliezer Mayenda’s quick, clever feet and, midway through the first half, Ben Wilson, the Sunderland academy graduate turned Coventry goalkeeper, saved smartly from Isidor’s young attacking partner.
Such cameos apart though Le Bris’s players looked in increasing peril of falling into the trap of retreating too deep and inviting the sort of pressure that eventually tends to prompt defensive mistakes. Not to mention silencing a previously raucous full house at the Stadium of Light.
Tellingly Rudoni might have levelled the aggregate scores but his shot flew off target as he collided with the home goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, after arriving late, and Lampard-esque, into the box.
Coventry have scored more goals from crosses and more headers than any other side in the EFL or Premier League this season and, as the interval beckoned, it was no surprise when Rudoni went close with a header from Jay Dasilva’s cross.
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No matter that, had that one gone in, it would have been disallowed for a foul in the preamble, the warning lights were flashing for Sunderland. As the second half unfolded only a series of stalwart clearances from Le Bris’s indomitable defender, Ballard, prevented a visiting goal and a blizzard of Coventry crosses and corners offered Lampard hope.
And yet … despite all that pressure Patterson had not really had too much to do. The same applied to Wilson but when Le Fée’s short corner routine concluded with Trai Hume meeting Luke O’Nien’s floated ball on the volley, Wilson’s acrobatic reflexes kept his team’s hopes of reaching Wembley alive.
By now the yellow card count was rising and Wilson and Jobe Bellingham – rumoured to be close to be swapping Sunderland for Borussia Dortmund this summer – boosted it with a booking apiece after clashing in the fall out from Le Fée’s set play.
Something had to give and it was Le Bris’s defence after Van Ewijk overlapped down the right before crossing superbly for Ephron Mason-Clark to toe poke the ball into the back of the net.
As an eerie silence descended on the stadium and Wembley felt that little bit further away from the north east, Le Bris replaced Isidor with 17-year-old Chris Rigg. As Sunderland’s manager paced the technical area nervously, locals were tempted to watch Coventry continue to dominate through their fingers.
Le Bris’s circumspect gameplan had failed and now he introduced the recently hamstrung winger Romaine Mundle from the bench, moved Le Fée into his preferred central role and a suddenly fluent Sunderland improved immeasurably.
It took a fantastic block from Josh Eccles to keep a Mundle shot out before Le Fée’s execution and Ballard’s header off the underside of the bar, destroyed all Lampard’s good work.
