Coventry City can become history-makers in play-off semi-final as incredible Sunderland record emerges

Add as preferred source on Google

Sheffield United booked their ticket to the Championship play-off final by thrashing Bristol City, and now it is over to one of Sunderland or Coventry City to join them.

In the first leg of their play-off tie on Thursday night, Sunderland beat Coventry City 2-1 at the CBS Arena to take an advantage back to the Stadium of Light.

It was a late goal from Eliezer Mayenda that broke Frank Lampard’s heart last week after a mistake from Milan Van Ewijk, with the Sky Blues now needing to turn the one-goal deficit around.

Lampard has taken inspiration from Marcelo Bielsa ahead of their clash on Tuesday night after the former Chelsea midfielder got the better of him in the Championship play-offs during his time at Derby County.

That famous game at Elland Road, which saw them come from 1-0 down against Leeds United, booked their place at Wembley with a tactical masterclass, and the Coventry boss will want to replicate those heroics this time around.

• READ MORE: Supercomputer predicts outcome of Sunderland vs Coventry City play-off semi-final second leg

Sunderland have never lost a play-off match at home

In the first leg, Lampard was tactically outsmarted by Regis Le Bris, who set up his team to play on the counter-attack and that worked wonders.

Sunderland caught their opponents out cold twice and ended their 10-match winless run against the Sky Blues in the process.

With a packed-out Stadium of Light rallying behind the hosts, the odds are stacked against Coventry turning this tie around.

And unfortunately, that challenge is made even harder as Sunderland have never lost a match at home in the play-offs in eight attempts, winning seven of those matches, as per BBC Sport.

It’s a record Coventry fans wouldn’t want to be made aware of but, history is there to be made for the visitors, and it would be unbelievable scenes in the away end if they came out on top.

Frank Lampard’s rallying cry to Coventry City players

When Mark Robins was shockingly sacked, Coventry found themselves in 17th position, needing a miracle to turn their season around and finish in the top six.

Lampard has performed those miracles during his six months at the club, and now, the Chelsea legend is dreaming of reaching a second play-off final.

• READ MORE: Callum O’Hare sends ‘good luck’ message to Coventry City as Sheffield United await Wembley opponents

The 46-year-old knows that it’s never done until the full-time whistle, leaning on his previous experiences as a tool of inspiration for his players to make themselves heroes.

“I’ve been in football long enough to know that it’s never done until it’s done – that goes both ways. I remember being 3-1 up at Chelsea, playing Liverpool in the Champions League and they scored two to go 3-3. That tie changed completely,” Lampard said.

“At Derby, when we went to Leeds we actually went two-down because we lost the first game 1-0 and went one-down at Elland Road. The difference between our first game against Sunderland on Friday and that one with Leeds was that we were well and truly beaten.

“Because of the circumstance of the first game the other day, we know we have more than a fighter’s chance. I think the players understood what that game was. They know with improvements in ourselves and tweaks, we can be better.”

Lampard backs his players to be much-improved from the first leg as he aims to inspire a famous comeback and reach Wembley for the third year running.