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Sunderland are gearing up to face Coventry City in the Championship play-off semi-finals, and Trai Hume wants to make amends for recent disappointment.
Sunderland take on Coventry City in the Championship play-offs semi-finals, with the first leg taking place at the CBS Arena on Friday evening.
The Black Cats head into the season-defining fixture against Coventry on the back of a five-game winless run, which culminated in their final day loss against managerless Queens Park Rangers.
Regis Le Bris’ side have everything to play for going into the semi-final clashes, against a side they hold a worrying head-to-head record against.
Ahead of Friday night’s first-leg, Sunderland ace Trai Hume has made an honest admission of how the regular season curtailed and the task at hand against Coventry.
Sunderland ace Trai Hume’s admission ahead of play-off semi-final vs Coventry City
23-year-old Hume has been in immense form throughout the Championship campaign, notching nine goal contributions in 44 league appearances from full-back, but was snubbed for the Player of the Season nominations.
Despite the Northern Ireland international’s best efforts, the Black Cats were beaten in their final five league outings, with Le Bris’ side exhibiting some worrying form.
Coventry beat Middlesbrough 2-0 on Championship final day and will be brimming with confidence given they beat Sunderland 3-0 before the March international break thanks to a Haji Wright hat-trick.
Lampard has admitted he expects Sunderland’s “best” despite their losing streak heading into the clash. It is that barren run of form, that ended the Cats’ campaign on a sour note, Hume wants to rectifty.
Hume told SAFC.com: “We have the most important game of our season now, and it’s up to us to get ready.
“We’ve lost a lot of games recently and haven’t created too many chances, but these next two games are like cup finals.”
Sunderland’s lack of chance creation has been a major concern, pointed out by one Black Cats expert, with Hume admitting his team “must deliver”.
Hume added: “For me, it didn’t matter who we got in the Play-Offs. It could have been any number of teams.
“Coventry are a very good side, but it’s a Play-Off semi-final and we want to win.
“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing – you have to go out there like it’s a cup final and win the games.
“Our main drive from the start of the season has been to get promoted. We haven’t lost faith in that.”
“We haven’t played the way we would have wanted to recently, but cup finals are coming up now, and we need to deliver.”
Hume was a member of Tony Mowbray’s side, who were beaten by Luton Town across two legs in the 2022/23 Championship play-offs, and it is that stinging defeat that the tough-tackling defender is using as fuel for the play-offs fire.
Trai Hume wants Sunderland to ‘put things right’ in Championship play-offs
In the first leg of the 2022/23 play-off semi-finals, Sunderland beat Luton 2-1 on home soil, but were beaten 2-0 at Kenilworth Road in the second leg by the eventual final winners, who beat Coventry on penalties under the arches.
Hume scored the first leg winner with a deft header to send the Stadium of Light stands into raptures, and is aiming to “put things right this time around”, and turn the tide on Sunderland’s barren play-offs record.
Sunderland ace Hume concluded: “When we played Luton Town two years ago, we were really excited to be there.
“We knew they’d be a strong team. We needed to be at 100%, and we were – coming away with a 2-1 win.
“To score in that game was probably one of the best moments of my career.
“The second leg didn’t go our way, but hopefully we can put that right this time around. We’ve learned and grown from those experiences, and hopefully, we can get promoted this season.”