Football League World
·23 May 2022
Football League World
·23 May 2022
Sunderland midfielder Jay Matete has taken to Instagram to reflect on his side’s play-off final victory over Wycombe Wanderers.
The Black Cats proved to be too strong for their opponents at Wembley Stadium on Saturday as they secured a return to the Championship.
Matete watched on from the substitutes bench for this particular fixture after being handed cameo appearances by Sunderland manager Alex Neil in the club’s clashes with Sheffield Wednesday.
The Black Cats made the perfect start to their meeting with Wycombe as Elliot Embleton fired an effort past goalkeeper David Stockdale in the 12th minute.
Stockdale then produced a string of saves to prevent Sunderland from extending their advantage.
Neil’s side effectively sealed victory in the 79th minute as Ross Stewart netted his 26th goal of the season.
Sunderland will now be looking to prepare for life in the second-tier after securing promotion to this division.
Yet to play at this level during his career, it will be intriguing to see how Matete will fare in the Championship during the 2022/23 campaign.
The midfielder opted to reflect on his side’s triumph in the play-offs by sharing a message on Instagram.
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Matete posted a picture of himself lifting the play-off trophy with the caption: “Special Day.”
The Verdict
After narrowly missing out on a return to the Championship in recent seasons, Sunderland finally managed to get over the line in terms of promotion at the weekend.
Although Matete didn’t feature in this particular fixture, he did produce some encouraging performances for the Black Cats during the second-half of the season after sealing a move to the club in the January transfer window.
In the 16 games2.3 tackles per game and registered a pass success rate of 80.5% as he averaged a WhoScored match rating of 6.71 in the third-tier.
By improving upon these particular statistics next season, Matete could potentially help his side achieve a relative amount of success in the Championship.