Sunderland’s Dan Ballard celebrates his Coventry goal (Image: Steve Welsh)
SUNDERLAND hero Dan Ballard is desperate to ensure his moment of “pure joy” doesn’t count for nothing – with the centre-half now determined to finish the play-off job and win promotion at Wembley next week.
Ballard’s 122nd minute tie-settler against Coventry City on Tuesday night booked Sunderland a place in the final, where they’ll take on Sheffield United.
The Blades finished 14 points ahead of Sunderland at the end of the regular season and are firm favourites with the bookmakers to secure an immediate return to the top flight.
But Ballard says the Black Cats don’t feel as though they’re underdogs and the players are excited and confident a week out from the promotion deciding tie.
“I can’t describe the feeling of that goal,” said Ballard, four days on from his dramatic goal, perhaps the greatest ever moment at the Stadium of Light.
“It was just pure joy. But I think it will make Tuesday even better if we can go and get promoted now.”
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It’s 1-1 between Sunderland and Sheffield United this season, with the Blades having edged the first game 1-0 at Bramall Lane before the Black Cats won the return fixture at the Stadium of Light on New Year’s Day.
“We’ve had two good games against them this year and I think those games will fill us with confidence,” said Ballard, who believes the manner of the Coventry victory will give his teammates an extra lift ahead of the final.
“They’ll probably go in as slight favourites but that’s not the feeling in our dressing room.
“We’re really excited and the way the last game went and nearly losing it, we feel extra privileged and realise the opportunity now because it was nearly taken away from us. We’ll use that as extra fuel going into the game.”
Sunderland have the youngest squad in the Championship but Ballard, 25, isn’t at all concerned about the ability of his teammates to handle the occasion at Wembley.
He said: “The last two games, with the atmosphere, credit to Coventry it was a great atmosphere there and then even better at the Stadium of Light. There’s two big high pressure games we’ve managed to come through.
“I think that will set us up well for the game at Wembley. I think personally I’ll have less nerves going into that because we’ve proved we can get through these high pressure games.
“It will be tough, we’ll have to dig deep, but we feel confident.”