Kevin Kilbane issues Championship top-six challenge for Sunderland amid Alex Neil praise

Former Sunderland midfielder Kevin Kilbane has heaped praise on ‘incredible’ Alex Neil and set the club lofty targets of Championship play-off football next season following their play-off final glory. Goals from Elliott Embleton and Ross Stewart earned the Black Cats a 2-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers and sparked wild celebrations inside Wembley.

It was Neil who decided to start 23-year-old Embleton in place of Jack Clarke, with the move paying instant dividends when the local lad burst through Wanderers’ midfield and fired a shot through David Stockdale. Ross Stewart drilled home the second with just over 10 minutes to go to secure Sunderland’s place in next season’s Championship.

The victory ends a four-year stay in England’s third-tier and also banishes the playoff hoodoo in which Sunderland had lost their last six attempts. And Kilbane described the Wembley win as ‘very special’ for Sunderland supporters.

“Today was very special.” Kilbane said on Sky Sports News. “I think that Sunderland supporters, you could see what it meant to them. I think the players more so now are really in touch with those supporters. Great scenes, incredible scenes. The hairs on the back of your neck really stood up with that, it was a great moment for Sunderland.

“It seems like such a long time, four years out of the Championship, five years since Sunderland were a Premier League club. That's where the majority of fans see themselves, as a Premier League club. The stature of the club probably warrants that but you get nothing for free these days and Sunderland need to work hard to get back to that state, to get back to that level where they were at.

“[Neil] has done an incredible job. Sunderland have had such a turnover of managers over