The final-day drama in the Championship reared its head once more as the battle for the two remaining play-off spots got underway. With five teams – Bristol City, Coventry City, Millwall, Blackburn Rovers, and Middlesbrough – vying for the top six, four of them slipped in and out of the play-off places as the day progressed.
In the 11th minute, Millwall were in and Coventry were out. That lasted only a couple of minutes as Burnley levelled against Millwall at Turf Moor, meaning that by the 13th minute, Millwall were out and Coventry back in. Bristol City, at home to Preston North End, found themselves a goal down after 28 minutes, but they stayed in. On 44 minutes, Coventry took the lead against Middlesbrough, meaning they leapfrogged Bristol City into fifth place and put The Robins sixth.
The second halves brought more twists and turns as Blackburn Rovers took the lead at Bramall Lane. At 50 minutes, Blackburn found themselves in and Bristol City were out. Nine minutes later, following Sheffield United’s equaliser against Blackburn, Bristol City were back in and Blackburn were out. A minute later, Bristol City conceded again but were still clinging onto the final play-off spot.
By the 74th minute, Ross McCrorie had scored twice to pull Bristol City level at home to Preston, putting them two points ahead of Blackburn and in the final play-off place. With three minutes remaining, Coventry doubled their lead against Middlesbrough. This was the last goal of the day across the games involving the play-off chasing teams. So, on a day of chopping and changing, of four different teams being in and out of the top six at any one time, ultimately, the only thing that changed in the end was the positions of Coventry and Bristol City. Coventry ended the day in fifth place, Bristol City in sixth.
And so to the play-offs themselves. The first semi-final sees Bristol City host Sheffield United at Ashton Gate on Thursday evening. The second pits Coventry against Sunderland at the CBS Arena on Friday night. The return legs will take place the following Monday and Tuesday evenings.
There wasn’t much between Bristol City and Sheffield United in their league fixtures against each other this season.
The two sides played out a 1-1 draw at Bramall Lane in March and The Blades came out on top when they visited Ashton Gate back in November. What this fixture has thrown up this season is late drama. Bristol City were leading heading into the final five minutes of the game at home, only for Ryan One and Harrison Burrows to score late goals and give United all three points. In the return fixture, it was Bristol City’s turn to spark late drama. The Blades had been leading since the 61st minute thanks to Tyrese Campbell, but Mark Sykes pulled The Robins level in the 90th minute. The late drama didn’t end there as Sheffield United felt they should have had a penalty in the dying moments. The penalty was not given and a brawl between the players broke out on the edge of the box. If the two league fixtures are any indication, we can expect fireworks when these two meet again in the play-offs this week.
The league fixtures between Coventry and Sunderland saw seven goals across the two games. Back in November, at The Stadium of Light, Sunderland raced into a two-goal lead in the first half, only for Coventry to hit back twice in the second half, Jack Rudoni levelling things up with just six minutes remaining. The game at the CBS Arena in March was one-way traffic. A hat-trick for Coventry striker Haji Wright, incidentally, Wright has scored four times against Sunderland this season, put clear daylight between the two sides.
Sunderland head into the play-offs on the back of a wretched run of form, having not won since the 1-0 victory over West Brom back in early April. They are currently on a run of five straight defeats and will need to dig deep to arrest this form over the semi-finals.
None of the four sides are in great form heading into the play-offs. Sheffield United and Coventry have both only won two of their last five games, whereas Bristol City have only been victorious once over the same period.
Sheffield United will be hoping history doesn’t haunt them this time around given their dismal play-off record. Across League One and Championship campaigns, The Blades have never been able to secure promotion via this route, despite reaching the final on four occasions. Sunderland have a similarly poor record in the play-offs. The Black Cats have featured eight times across the second and third tiers, their sole promotion via this path was from League One after beating Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 at Wembley in 2022.
Coventry have experienced triumph and heartbreaking failure in their play-off campaigns. The Sky Blues swept Exeter City aside at Wembley in 2018 with a comprehensive 3-1 victory. They reached the Championship play-off final as recently as 2023 but, after a 1-1 draw, they lost 6-5 on penalties to Luton. They will be hoping to go one further this time around under the stewardship of Frank Lampard and seal a return to the top flight after a 24-year absence.
Bristol City have participated in the play-offs on five separate occasions and, much like Sheffield United and Sunderland, have a poor record. They have never gained a promotion through the play-offs despite getting through to the final three times. Liam Manning’s side are, along with Preston and QPR, the Championship’s longest serving club, and their fans will be hoping for a reprieve from the long second-tier seasons and a return to the top flight for the first time since 1980.
After a long season, all the hard work of these four clubs comes down to this. Two play-off semi-finals, a trip to Wembley and only one of these teams will secure a Premier League spot next season. We know anything can happen in football, but the unpredictable nature of the Championship – and the play-offs – sets us up for a week of unmissable drama. Who will make the final at Wembley on May 24th?
