THEY might be heading into their final fixture with their play-off hopes hanging in the balance, but Lynden Gooch insists the pressure Sunderland’s players are currently under is nothing compared to the weight of expectation that was hanging around their necks at the same stage of last season.

The Black Cats head to Preston next Monday knowing they need to win their final game of the campaign to have any chance of finishing in the top six. If Tony Mowbray’s side win at Deepdale, they will secure a play-off spot if Coventry City lose at Middlesbrough or Millwall fail to win their home game against Blackburn Rovers.

The stakes are high with a place in the Premier League hanging in the balance, but having been part of the Sunderland side that won promotion from League One via the play-offs last season, Gooch is no stranger to high-pressure end-of-the-season encounters.

This time last year, the Black Cats went to Morecambe on the final day of the regular season knowing they had to win to guarantee a play-off spot. Having triumphed in Lancashire, they then saw off Sheffield Wednesday in a dramatic two-legged semi-final before beating Wycombe Wanderers at Wembley.

Given that they had already spent three seasons in the third tier, last season’s play-off campaign felt like a series of matches that Sunderland could not afford to lose. This time around, while promotion to the Premier League would be a remarkable achievement, it is not something that feels essential for the continued wellbeing of the club.

“It’s nice to be fighting at the top end,” said Gooch, who has found himself lining up at right-back again in recent weeks with Trai Hume having moved inside to cover for Sunderland’s injured centre-halves. “There was obviously more pressure in League One to deliver, and this season it’s just been about trying to keep doing the same things from week to week and keeping that momentum going from last season.

“The pressure was never there to be up here this season - the most important thing was to solidify ourselves as a Championship club after where we’d been. We’ve just kept going and taking it from game to game.

“I don’t think, six weeks ago, many people would have seen us here. It’s been difficult doing it without strikers for large parts of the season, but we’ve managed it, we’ve managed to get goals from everywhere.”

As a result, Sunderland have given themselves a fighting chance of winning promotion for the second season in a row.

READ MORE:

While there have been additions to the squad over the course of the last 12 months, the core of the group that won at Wembley last May has remained intact. All 11 members of the side that started against Wycombe are still on Sunderland’s books, albeit that one (Bailey Wright) has been out on loan and four (Danny Batth, Corry Evans, Elliot Embleton and Ross Stewart) are nursing long-term injuries that will prevent them from featuring against Preston.

They have all remained important presences within the dressing room though, providing a high degree of continuity that has been an important factor in Sunderland’s successful season.

“We’ve kept that core group from the team that got promoted last season,” said Gooch. “We’ve played a lot of games together and even just having the likes of Corry and Ross around the building - although they're not playing, they still have a massive part in helping the lads.

“We’ve managed to dig in and there’s that clip from West Brom showing everyone diving in and putting their bodies on the line to stop them scoring their second, I think that epitomised what we've managed to do in the last few weeks. The younger lads have followed suit and bought into that.

“You see Amad (Diallo) getting his body on the line, I don't know if he'd have been tackling like that and diving in like that nine months ago, and yet he's brilliant every game at both sides of the game, on and off the ball.

“I said at the start of the season that it would be important to keep the core of the group we had together to try and keep going in that direction, and it's obviously turned out even better so far.
It's been a fantastic season and we're looking forward to Monday.”

On a personal level, Gooch is especially happy to be fighting at the top end of the Championship after being part of the side that crashed out of the second tier in calamitous fashion half-a-decade ago.

A lot has changed since then, but Gooch has been a constant presence since making his senior Sunderland debut in a League Cup win over Exeter City back in August 2015.

“I’ve loved this season,” said the 27-year-old. “The last time at this level, I think I did well when I did play, but that wasn’t as much as I would have liked and obviously there were an awful lot of things going on at the football club, a lot of politics.

“I’m enjoying my football a lot more now for having been through those times. I don’t think you could have it much tougher starting a career with back-to-back relegations and play-off final losses. I’m just so pleased I managed to come through that and that I'm still here, and that I can enjoy these good times.”