How much confidence can Sunderland take from their victories over Hull and Luton? (2025)

Gav says…

Prior to the last two games, there were concerns about what direction our away form was going to take, having lost the previous two at Plymouth and Watford, so the results of the games at Hull and Luton were hugely important in terms of where we see ourselves going from this point.

Two disappointing results would’ve likely tempered expectations. We’re three points clear now, but we could quite easily have dropped down the table and been in the pack below us with some of the others, but we didn’t, so we aren’t.

I wouldn’t say there was a lot of pressure on Régis Le Bris to pull a rabbit out of the hat with the way we handled ourselves in the last two games, but there was definitely a little bit of pressure, or at least there was definitely some focus on what he and his team did.

The win at Hull was hard-fought but deserved, and we were over the moon with it, but the win at Luton will stand out on its own as a game and performance that could well define our season.

We’ve got a long way to go of course, but it’s those types of performances that separate the good teams from the great teams. Big games, big tests of character, and only the best and most mentally resilient teams make it through them.

We passed with flying colours on this occasion, but it’ll all mean naught if we take our eyes off the ball on Saturday against Oxford.

As I keep saying, this is a long old season and May seems light years away, so we can’t get too carried away by these results, and instead we must remain focused, grounded, and ready to keep working hard.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

Andy Thompson says…

I’d say the past two results have been a real statement from this team, as they’ve shown maturity and guile to beat two very different teams.

The Luton game in particular was a significant result in terms of our development, as the style of play deployed by the hosts reminded me of the League One days of Wycombe.

In years gone by, I would’ve expected us to wilt under the pressure but we were able to weather a storm for long periods, before showing such belief and bravery to play some really good technical football to win the game.

The fact we were able to manage the game so well over the last twenty minutes was extremely impressive, especially for a team that contained so many young players.

Over the past few years, I’ve felt that our recruitment drive has been built around getting in good characters and judging by the celebrations from the players on Wednesday night, it seems that the togetherness is very much there again this season.

Whether we end up promoted or not, I think that the culture within the club is something that’s been cultivated over the past few seasons and will be here for the long term.

My opinion is that we’ll be extremely competitive for the rest of the season.

I’ll err on the side of caution regarding promotion until we get to the Christmas period as the Championship has seen many decent sides over the years derailed by a few bad results during that time.

Ultimately, we’re playing some really good football and getting good results from tough fixtures. It would suggest that we’ll be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, and I can’t wait for the ride!

Malc Dugdale says…

This has to be our best chance of getting back to the Premier League in quite some time, but it all depends on this form and accumulation of points.

We can’t get too carried away but nobody can blame us for doing so, after so many years of challenges with being a fan of our frustrating and fascinating club.

Régis Le Bris has instilled a massive amount of confidence in the squad despite many of them being so young, and he’s demonstrated that if the team is struggling, he can help with tactical adjustments as well as verbal advice on how to get back into a game.

This was hugely evident at Luton and Hull.

We didn’t have a major right to win at Luton, but we did. Teams who pull out results like that stand above their peers and really shake up the league, and if I was a fan of another team at our level and pushing for promotion, I’d be really worried right now.

Le Bris has instilled a hardness and resilience that we haven’t seen for many years.

He’s found a way to make a team way better than the individuals involved. I’ve been a fan for forty years and this is as good as it’s ever been, including under Tony Mowbray, who to his credit, really took the last major step with this club.

In retweeting the latest podcast, I said openly on X that I’m increasingly convinced this is our best chance of automatic promotion for many a year.

If we keep this form up, we’ll do that, and in Le Bris, we have a coach who seems very well equipped to deal with any bumps in form, which we’ll inevitably hit.

The final four months of last season was awful, but the wait for Le Bris was absolutely worth it as we hit the quarter of a season mark.

This could well be our year to get back up. Everything is crossed, for sure.

Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images