Football – 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 yesterday.
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.”
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.
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