‘Can’t split them’ - Don Goodman and David Prutton's verdict on Sunderland vs Sheffield Wednesday

Don Goodman says he "can't split" Sunderland or Sheffield Wednesday heading into the League One play-off semi-final. The two sides have near identical records in the league this season, both home and away.

The Black Cats ran out 5-0 victors against the Owls last time out at the Stadium of Light, but were brushed aside by Darren Moore's side in a 3-0 defeat at Hillsborough earlier in the campaign. Goodman and fellow Sky Sports pundit, David Prutton were in agreement that the two heavyweights of English football should not be languishing in the third tier and struggled to pick a winner.

Speaking to the Sky Sports EFL podcast, Prutton said: "They shouldn't be but they are. That's the hard facts of it, they operate under a certain level of expectation and rightly so.

"We've seen over the course of the season, the teams that have dealt with that particular pressure - maybe it's slightly different with Rotherham and Wigan with the greatest respect - given what we've seen over the course of the season we've seen a managerial change, Darren Moore get his side up to the pace of League One.

"As we heard from Barry Bannan a few weeks ago, every team coming to Hillsborough and lifting their performance, the same will be said of Sunderland of course, with teams going to the Stadium of Light.

"These are going to be huge, aren't they? It's got the feel of what would have been a Premier League game in all but name. It's two teams that are way off where they should be with the chance to take that small step back towards where they believe they should be.

"The fact you've got a League One play-off semi-final, which collectively could be played over the two legs in front of 80,000 people is just staggering really."

Former Sunderland