Former Republic of Ireland international Andy Townsend has suggested Sunderland must hold their nerve in the Championship promotion battle.
The ex-Chelsea and Aston Villa midfielder reckons the mixed bag of results so far are the norm for a team so young but they should have every reason to believe they can reach the Premier League with their consistency in the past two months.
Townsend told BoyleSports: “Sunderland up to now have shown the sort of form that you would expect from that young team. They are very good, dangerous on their day, and yet perhaps one or two results that they perhaps wouldn’t have been quite expecting.
“But they’ve done a lot of the job now and it’s just about how they finish the season now. They’ve got to protect their place in the play-offs and keep on playing to win, how they fare in those play-offs remains to be seen.”
The opposition they will face in the cauldron of the play-offs is key and Townsend said: “So much depends on who they’re playing but credit to all the teams involved in the top six or seven and below, they have all had healthy spells in the Premier League and are all big clubs.
“They’ve all been in this sort of scenario before and trying to stay amongst it, now it’s up to the players to try and get over the line and then do the job in the play-offs.
“It’s just about holding your nerve at this stage of the season and not panicking if you lose the odd game in the run-in, if you lose a game then dust yourself down and get back out there. It’s high pressure and high stakes, and Sunderland are doing well and are in the mix.”
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