Intentar ORO - Gratis
Sunderland strike back to seal dramatic play-off win
The Independent
|May 25, 2025
There are ways to say goodbye. Tommy Watson's last few minutes as a Sunderland player proved the club's last few in the Football League.
Their eight-year exile from the top flight was ended by a player who was just 11 when they were last relegated from the Premier League. As they won the £200m match, the richest game in world football, they may not need the millions they will bank from Watson's impending move to Brighton.
But if he is going to the Premier League, he departed by dragging them up with him, a 96th-minute winner transporting the Roker Roar, the sound of the Stadium of Light, to Wembley.
It was quite a comeback by Sunderland: on the day, after Sheffield United dominated the first half to lead, and over the last four seasons.
They have come a long way in a short time. Three-and-a-half years ago, Sunderland lost 6-0 at Bolton in League One and sacked Lee Johnson. Then, given their history, fanbase and stadium, they were arguably English football's greatest underachievers.
Three weeks ago, no club had ever gone into the play-offs in worse form than Sunderland, with five straight losses. But they have become specialists in turnarounds. Regis Le Bris, an unknown French appointment, has proved an inspired choice as manager, and they are a Premier League club again.
One of the grand old clubs have done it with youth. Kyril LouisDreyfus is the boy king of an owner. Eliezer Mayenda was the youngest scorer in a Championship play-off final for 32 years.
The 20-year-old had that status for all of 19 minutes, until the 19-year-old Watson surpassed him.

Esta historia es de la edición May 25, 2025 de The Independent.
Suscríbete a Magzter GOLD para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9000 revistas y periódicos.
¿Ya eres suscriptor? Iniciar sesión
MÁS HISTORIAS DE The Independent
The Independent
‘Port Talbot Pompeii’ find stuns archaeological team
Experts ‘strike gold’ with largest Roman villa discovery
3 mins
January 13, 2026
The Independent
Zahawi 'begged for peerage before defecting to Reform
Controversial former Tory chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has defected to Reform UK after apparently unsuccessfully “begging” to be nominated for a peerage.
4 mins
January 13, 2026
The Independent
What will former top Tory bring to his new party?
Former cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi is the latest prominent Conservative to defect to Reform UK - to the obvious delight of its leader, Nigel Farage. Much is made of Zahawi’s expertise and experience, and he claims that he humbly wishes to be a “foot soldier” in Farage’s army because “we can all see that our beautiful, ancient, kind, magical island story has reached a dark and dangerous chapter”.
3 mins
January 13, 2026
The Independent
Stop 'disgusting' Al images or we will, PM tells Musk
Sir Keir Starmer has issued an ultimatum to Elon Musk, announcing that the government will take “fast action” to deal with the abuses of the AI tool Grok on X (Twitter).
4 mins
January 13, 2026
The Independent
Iran and US tiptoe towards dialogue after threats of war
Tehran says US lacks seriousness as messages are exchanged between Iranian foreign minister and Donald Trump's envoy
2 mins
January 13, 2026
The Independent
EU 'demands Farage clause in reset talks with Starmer
The EU is said to be demanding that financial compensation be paid by any future British government that reneges on a post-Brexit “reset” deal signed with Sir Keir Starmer, as part of an attempt to protect the agreement should Reform UK ever come to power.
2 mins
January 13, 2026
The Independent
Adolescence and Hamnet dominate at Golden Globes
Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty continued Adolescence’s winning streak as they all secured gongs at the Golden Globes - while Irish star Jessie Buckley picked up a prize for her performance in Hamnet.
4 mins
January 13, 2026
The Independent
Farage and Zahawi dismiss historic Twitter exchanges
Social media posts in which the pair harangued each other began to emerge following the former minister's defection
2 mins
January 13, 2026
The Independent
Saracens find old fighting spirit to terrify Toulouse
Perhaps the days of Saracens as an Investec Champions Cup force are not quite as distant as they had seemed.
4 mins
January 12, 2026
The Independent
THE X FACTOR
With six different cohorts now in the workplace, it's now the supposed slacker generation that's quietly running the show – and they're well suited to the task
6 mins
January 12, 2026
Listen
Translate
Change font size
