Eliezer Mayenda’s 88th-minute strike saw Sunderland snatch a 2-1 lead against Coventry in the first leg of their 2024-25 Championship Play-Off semi-final at CBS Arena.
Mayenda netted a 88th-minute winner from Milan van Ewijk’s sloppy back-pass under pressure from Enzo Le Fee, which marked Sunderland’s first victory at the CBS Arena and their first away to Coventry since April 1985 at Highfield Road.
Wilson Isidor initially fired Sunderland in front from Le Fee’s diagonal counter-attack pass which he curled into the far right corner in the 68th minute.
Van Ewijk however set up Coventry’s 70th-minute equaliser just two minutes later with a cross which Jack Rudoni thumped into the roof of the net.
Sunderland will now host Coventry in the second leg on Tuesday 13 May at 8pm BST at the Stadium of Light, with the winner going on to meet Bristol City or Sheffield United in the Play-Off Final on 24 May – which looks likely to be Sheffield Utd who hold a 3-0 aggregate lead in the other play-off semi-final.
Having snatched a play-off spot on the final day with victory over one of Sunderland’s local rivals – Middlesbrough – despite their recent inconsistent form, Coventry began the tie on the front foot but struggled to carve out any notable opportunities amidst a succession of early corners.
Their first opportunity eventually came in the 23rd minute as a cross was headed away to the feet of Ben Sheaf, but the midfielder could only scruff his half-volley shot wide.
Sunderland on the other hand were on a six-match winless streak after they had wrapped up a play-off spot but surprisingly looked back to their best, as Mayenda broke forward in the 24th minute only to rifle wide of the bottom-right corner.
Neither team broke the deadlock before half-time despite Haji Wright’s late header over the bar for Coventry, before Tatsuhiro Sakamoto fired wide seven minutes into the second half.
Sunderland’s Trai Hume and Coventry’s Rudoni were the next to go close with little luck as both failed to accurately turn their shots onto target.
Sunderland eventually broke the deadlock with a 68th-minute counter-attack as Dan Neil unleashed Le Fee up the central third, from which the Italian teed Isidor up with a diagonal pass to left to cut in and curl into the far right corner to put the visitors in front.
The Black Cats’ jubilation though proved short-lived as a scrappy clearance two minutes later fell for Van Ewijk, who calmly whipped in a cross which Rudoni bullet headed into the roof of the net to quickly restore parity.
Like the first half, the game soon went scrappy until a long ball up the left in the 88th minute landed awkwardly as Le Fee closed down van Ewijk into a sloppy back-pass, which Mayenda pounced upon and calmly replicated Isidor’s finish into the far right corner as Ben Wilson this time came to the edge of the box.
Sunderland proceeded to protect their regained lead to go into the second leg at home with a 2-1 aggregate advantage, despite Jamie Allen’s valiant aerobatic hit for Coventry in the fifth minute of injury-time which flew over the bar.
Teams
Coventry: Ben Wilson, Milan van Ewijk, Bobby Thomas, Liam Kitching, Jay Dasilva, Matt Grimes, Ben Sheaf (Allen 82′), Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Jack Rudoni, Brandon Thomas-Asante (Mason-Clark 71′), Haji Wright
Substitutes: Jamie Allen, Jake Bidwell, Luis Binks, Bradley Collins, Josh Eccles, Joel Latibeaudiere, Ephron Mason-Clark, Jamie Paterson, Ellis Simms
Sunderland: Anthony Patterson, Trai Hume, Dan Ballard, Luke O’Nien, Dennis Cirkin, Patrick Roberts (Mepham 86′), Dan Neil, Jobe Bellingham, Enzo Le Fee, Eliezer Mayenda (Browne 93′), Wilson Isidor (Rigg 77′)
Substitutes: Salis Abdul Samed, Alan Browne, Leo Hjelde, Harrison Jones, Chris Mepham, Simon Moore, Chris Rigg, Jenson Seelt, Tom Watson