Advantage Sunderland after Hume seals narrow first-leg win against Luton
For a long time, it has felt as though no matter what Sunderland did, it would all go wrong. Relegations, defeats at Wembley, misfortune with average points, pratfall after pratfall. “Why,” as one tearful fan filmed for the Sunderland Til I Die documentary asked as she left the 2019 playoff final defeat to Charlton, “can it never be us?” Except suddenly it looks as though it might be. There’s still the second leg to go at Luton, even before another playoff final, but the rise that began with victory over Wycombe at Wembley last year looks as though, unexpectedly and almost despite themselves, it could keep on going.
