LONDON (Reuters) -Sunderland staged a remarkable comeback to beat Sheffield United 2-1 in the Championship playoff final with substitute Tom Watson sending them back to the Premier League by scoring the winner deep in stoppage time at Wembley on Saturday.
Teenager Watson drilled in a superb low finish from outside the penalty area to end the club’s eight-season absence from the top flight which included a spell in the third tier.
Victory in what is widely-regarded as the richest game in world football means Sunderland will benefit to the tune of 220 million pounds ($297.79 million) in extra revenue thanks to the Premier League’s lucrative TV rights deals.
Finances were the last thing on the minds of the Sunderland fans though when Watson sparked ecstatic scenes of joy.
For United it was a crushing disappointment as they dominated much of the game against a side who finished 14 points below them in the regular Championship season.
Incredibly it was the 19-year-old Watson’s last contribution for his boyhood club before the winger moves to Brighton & Hove Albion, but what a parting gift it was.
“It’s unbelievable, we’ll see each other in the Premier League next season,” he said. “I have been thinking about it for weeks and that story was written when I came off the bench.”
YOUTHFUL SIDE
It had looked like a bridge too far for French coach Regis Le Bris’s youthful Sunderland side as they trailed to a stunning 25th-minute counter-attack goal by Tyrese Campbell in a first half completely dominated by United.
Campbell’s cool finish from Gus Hamer’s inch-perfect pass rewarded United for a superb start in which they almost took the lead in the opening minutes when Kieffer Moore’s header was brilliantly saved by Anthony Patterson.
Sunderland also lost defender Luke O’Nien to a dislocated shoulder and were relieved not to be 2-0 down when Harrison Burrows bounced a shot into the net after a clearance fell to him but the effort was ruled out for offside after a VAR check.
Chris Wilder’s United, bidding to bounce straight back to the Premier League, were in control after the break but stunned in the 76th minute when Eliezer Mayenda showed great control and fired an unstoppable shot high into the net past Michael Cooper.
Extra time and the possibility of a penalty shootout loomed when Moore was guilty of giving the ball away and Watson was allowed to advance and write his name in Sunderland folklore.
It completed an incredible playoff campaign by a Sunderland side who lost their last five regular-season games and then scraped past Coventry City in the semi-finals with a last-gasp goal by Dan Ballard.
Sunderland’s surprise win means Jobe Bellingham, younger brother of Real Madrid’s Jude, will be a Premier League player next season, something his sibling has yet to experience.
“I take pride in saying I was one of the players to help this great club get back to where it belongs,” he said.
($1 = 0.7388 pounds)
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
