Sheffield United 1 v Sunderland 2 - EFL Championship Play-Off Final
At Wembley Stadium
Saturday 24th May 2025 - EFL Championship Play-Off Final - at Wembley Stadium.
Sheffield United (1) 1 (Tyrese Campbell 25 ) v Sunderland (0) 2 (Eliezer Mayenda 76, Tom Watson 90+5. Attendance: 82,718
Sheffield United: Cooper, Brewster (Brooks 64), Hamer (Brereton Diaz 72, Cannon 90), Moore, Burrows, Ahmedhodzic (Seriki 90), Robinson, Souza, Campbell (O'Hare 64), Choudhury, Peck (T. Davies 90). Unused subs -A. Davies, McCallum, Holding.
Sunderland: Patterson, Cirkin, Neil (Watson 73), Ballard, Bellingham, Rigg (Roberts 58), Mayenda (Hjelde 90), O'Nien (Mepham 9), Mundle (Isidor 73), La Fee, Hume. Unused subs - S. Moore, Browne, Abdul Samed, Jones.
Going into this afternoon’s Final, Sheffield United had failed to win a single EFL Promotion Play-Off campaign they have ever been involved in, despite having had nine previous attempts to do so. They had also failed to score in all four Finals they had reached prior to today.
Namely: v. Crystal Palace, 1996-97 lost 1-0, v. Wolverhampton Wanderers, 2002 -03 lost 3-0 at the Millenium Stadium (I recall a friend of mine leaving this game at half-time when Wolves were already three goals ahead, meaning that he didn’t see Michael Brown’s penalty for the Blades at the start of the second-half… Brown missed it too!), v. Burnley, 2008-09 lost 1-0 and v. Huddersfield Town, drew 0-0 AET. United then lost on penalties.
The Tykes failed to score from any of their first three attempts, but Danny Wilson’s side still lost the shoot-out 8-7, when their goalkeeper, Steve Simonsen, launched what was the 22nd spot-kick of the afternoon over the crossbar. I suppose you could argue that by netting United’s second penalty, Neill Collins could lay claim to have been the first Blades player to score in an EFL Play-Off Final. So if you were watching on TB and wondering why there were a significant number of unsold seats in the sections reserved for Sheffield United supporters at Wembley today, refer to all of the above by way of an explanation.
Chris Wilder’s Blades negotiated this seasons Semi-Final stage with consummate ease, beating Bristol City 3-0, both away then at home, to cruise through to the Final 6-0 on aggregate, against opposition who’d finished the season a whole 22 points behind them in the Championship.
Sunderland for their part, were making their fifth (Play-Off) Final appearance today, In the 1997-98 Football League First Division Final, they faced Charlton Athletic at the old version of Wembley Stadium. That game ended 3–3 in regular time and 4–4 after extra time, with Charlton winning the resulting penalty shoot-out 7–6. More recently the Wearsiders lost to the Addicks again, 2-1 in the 2018-19 Final. They also played in the 1990 Football League Second Division Final against Swindon Town, which they lost 1–0. But they were subsequently promoted at a later date, when the Wiltshire side were found guilty of financial misconduct. Their fourth Wembley Final saw Sunderland beat Wycombe Wanderers in the 2021-22 EFL League One Wembley showdown.
To reach today's game, Régis Le Bris’ side won the first-leg of their Semi-Final at Coventry City 1-2. Before salvaging a 1-1 draw in the home leg, in the second minute of extra-time stoppage-time, when Dan Ballard scored the goal (in the 122nd minute) that afforded the Black Cats a trip to Wembley. For the record, the Mackems amassed 14 points less than United over the season, to secure themselves a fourth-placed finish, but it’s worth noting that they have never been any lower in the table than fourth all season.
I picked up one of the general sale tickets amongst the Sheffield United fans for today's game, which means I now own a new SUFC Play-Off Final scarf, because there was one hung over the back of every single seat in the Blades section of the ground. Woo hoo! Free stuff.
United made all of the early running and it boded well that this might finally be the year that their 100 year old (since Fred Tunstall scored the only goal of the game against Cardiff City in the 1925 FA Cup Final) Wembley hoodoo was about to be broken. Just a few minutes in Kieffer Moore connected well with Gustavo Hamer’s cross and would have opened the scoring, if it wasn't for Anthony Patterson pulling off an outstanding save. Play was held up briefly before the restart, because Luke O’Nien collided with Moore as he attempted to defend Hamer’s delivery and had to leave the field of play as a consequence, with a dislocated shoulder.
Sunderland forced a corner, but United cleared their lines as soon as the flag-kick was taken, Hamer collected the ball and tore forward into the Rokerites (old nickname alert) half, before making three defenders redundant with an angled pass into the path of Tyrese Campbell, who, in the twenty-fifth minute, took the ball in his stride before exquisitely looping it over the advancing Patterson, to claim the first ever goal scored by a Sheffield United player in an EFL Play-Off final. And that's official, because I’m discounting those penalty kicks in the shout-out versus Huddersfield. My blog, my rules! And that’s legally binding so don't even try to contradict me.
Wembley erupted with noise as the Blades fans thought that they had doubled their lead, when Hamer’s left-wing corner was only cleared as far Harrison Burrows, just outside the area, who bulged the back of the net with a superb strike. But what’s this!? VAR hasn't been used in the EFL all season, and it wasn't employed during any of the Semis either, but it’s in place for all three games this weekend.
The match referee: Mr Chris Kavanagh, headed to a pitch-side monitor screen and, kinnel!!! It's 1-0 again. After the goal was chalked off, because: “Patterson's view of Burrows' effort was impeded by Vinicius Souza, who was in an offside position”. VAR is being used in all three Play-Off Finals across the weekend.The decision visibly knocked United out of their stride and they lost some of the cohesion they had been showing earlier in the game from then on in.
Half-time came and went and Wilder’s team were still ahead and almost added another goal to consolidate their lead when Andre Brooks pounced on a slip by Dennis Cirkin and unleashed a shot from just inside the area, but Patterson kept the Black Cats in the game with a vital block. The Blades were dealt another blow when the influential Hamer limped off of the pitch and out of the game.Two minutes later Sunderland finally broke United’s stubborn resistance, when Patrick Roberts unlocked the South Yorkshire sides defence with a tidy pass to Eliezer Mayenda, who took his chance well to level things up. The game went into stoppage time and an extra thirty minutes looked imminent. Anel Ahmedhodzic, the Blades central defender, was off the pitch, following a clash of heads, where he was being patched up in readiness for extra-time.
In the fifth added minute, disaster struck for United, when Moore misplaced a pass and conceded possession to Tom Watson, who surged forward and curled a shot from just outside the area past Michael Cooper into the bottom corner of the net. FFS! That was harsh on the Blades, who's frantic efforts to salvage a draw were all in vain. And as the final whistle sounded, Sunderland celebrated their promotion to the Premier League and Sheffield United’s Wembley hoodoo had struck again.
As their fans began to stream out of the stadium, it was all too much for some of the Blades faithful, as disappointment turned to anger amongst a small group heading down the ramp onto Wembley Way, just in front of me. Raised voices quickly escalated into a confrontation and several (fairly ineffective and poorly aimed) punches were exchanged. The embarrassing spectacle soon blew over and no real harm had been done. ‘Twas merely a heat of the moment flare-up, with several ‘old enough to know better’ people taking their frustrations out on each other. In effect, a few disgruntled souls were losing their rag because they cared so much and they were genuinely hurting. United had blown their chances of promotion from seemingly being in a position of strength and it was all too much for some people to deal with just yet.
“Chill out you lot, it's only a bloody game!”, called out an elderly gentleman, who obviously didn't want to become embroiled in a mass free-for-all, in such an over-crowded area. I completely understand him wanting to calm the situation down, but… “Only a bloody game!” Really!? If that's what people are saying, I never got the memo. Without wanting to rain on Sunderland’s parade; today was Tom Watson’s last game for them, because he's leaving the Black Cats and has already signed for Brighton & Hove Albion. And tomorrow Jobe Bellingham is flying out to Dortmund to have talks with Borrusia… so good luck to the Mackems next season, I think they're probably going to need it.
And with all due respect to Chris Wilder and his Blades team, today's result could actually be a blessing in disguise. Shoot me down in flames for saying this if you must, even chuck a feeble punch at me (that misses) on Wembley Way; but in my humble opinion, this United side probably needs another season to percolate before they will be anything like ready to be competitive in the Premier League. Just saying. I’m back here again tomorrow to see if either Charlton Athletic or Leyton Orient will be playing against Sheffield United next season. It's going to be a close run thing.