Kevin Phillips says one Sunderland star was ‘awesome’ in Coventry City win, he played with ‘authority’

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Coventry City and Sunderland rounded out the first lot of Championship play-off semi-final first legs on Friday.

Sheffield United beat Bristol City in convincing fashion the day prior, with the Blades now having one foot in the final.

Joining them would be a Coventry City aiming to end their play-off woes or a Sunderland side that had eyed automatic promotion earlier in 2024/25 before falling away and dropping down to fourth.

Frank Lampard’s arrival sparked an upturn in form from the Sky Blues, seeing the likes of Jack Rudoni shine.

Meanwhile, Regis Le Bris has been dividing Sunderland fans going into big matches, including the meeting at the CBS Arena on May 9.

In the end, Sunderland beat Coventry 2-1, handing them the advantage going into next week’s second leg.

• READ MORE: The fans have spoken, Championship play-offs will have a surprise winner with 35% chance of success

Kevin Phillips praises Dan Ballard performance for Sunderland vs Coventry City

Wilson Isidor fired the away side into the lead on Friday, but Le Bris’ team’s lead lasted just minutes.

Jack Rudoni leaped higher than any Sunderland defender to head in a cross to make it 1-1 in the 69th minute.

However, after his passing was questioned by Sunderland fans, Eliezer Mayenada was able to capitalise on a mistake from Milan van Ewijk to score the winner with two minutes of normal time to play.

But it was neither of the goalscorers who earned the praise of former Sunderland forward Kevin Phillips.

Speaking as a pundit live on Sky Sports post-match, Phillips waxed lyrical about defender Dan Ballard.

Phillips said: “He was awesome, he thoroughly deserved man of the match. Been brought back into the team and he played with an authority, got his head on everything, made blocks, he commanded that backline, gave very little change to their strikers.

“And I think him and Luke O’Nien just worked really well together, they complemented each other, and he just put his head on everything, which is what you want a centre-half to do.

“On the ball, yes, he can handle a football, he can make passes but he’s just an out and out solid defender. Brilliant tonight.”

Regis Le Bris got two big calls right vs Coventry City

It was an excellent showing from Sunderland, and Le Bris deserves praise for two big decisions he made on the night.

The first was dropping Chris Rigg to start Mayenda in a two-man strike force, which paid off massively.

The second was bringing Ballard back into the side after he had a long period out injured and only played 30 minutes of Sunderland’s final clash of the normal campaign.

Ballard looked incredibly sharp, however, and was key to the away side taking a lead back up north.