James Copley and Nick Barnes react to THAT Dan Ballard header as Sunderland book Wembley place
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00:00Hello, James Copley and Nick Barnes here.
00:02Sunland have just booked their place at Wembley with a last-minute goal from Dan Ballard.
00:06Barnes, you've just said he's speechless, which is rare for a commentator.
00:12Have you ever seen anything like that?
00:14No. Honestly, you couldn't make it up if you wrote that in a Royal Rovers,
00:20you'd be deemed a fantasist.
00:22I mean, it's just extraordinary because for 90 minutes,
00:25Coventry, I think, arguably were the best team.
00:27They got themselves back in it, got their noses in front, their tails were up.
00:31It's only when they brought on Mungle and they changed the formation,
00:34suddenly you thought there was a bit of life in Sunland again
00:36and they started creating chances.
00:39But even then, you thought, they're running out of time, they're running out of time.
00:42And I'm thinking, this is ticking down, it's going to be penalties.
00:45Isis Orr was off the pitch, Roberts was off the pitch.
00:47I'm thinking, who's going to be taking the penalties now?
00:49It may not have been a bad thing.
00:50But then for the drama of that last seconds of the game,
00:55I mean, it's so apt that till the end has been...
00:59I mean, again, you couldn't make up that drama, could you?
01:02The narrative there till the end.
01:04And just before the corner was taken,
01:07I was saying about how we went to Wembley in League One
01:11and Charlton scored with literally pretty much the last kick of the game.
01:14And how that felt at the time.
01:15And how that felt at the time.
01:16It absolutely kills you.
01:17It was awful.
01:20For then you to be on the end of the goal, scoring the goal,
01:23seeing Ballard put that in, was just absolutely remarkable.
01:27It was the most incredible thing.
01:28I don't really remember seeing scenes like that at the Stadium of Life
01:31for a long time.
01:32Maybe a Derby game, but that was phenomenal.
01:35The crowd.
01:36From the start, from when the players came in on the bus,
01:38all the flares and the approach to the stadium,
01:40the 46,500 and Jimmy Montgomery, that was so emotional.
01:45And Jimmy getting the stand named after him.
01:48Again, I use that word, the narrative.
01:50But the narrative, it's been bookended with that amazing...
01:55And it had to be Dan Ballard, didn't it?
01:57I mean, after the game on Friday night.
01:59Talk about those two performances,
02:01because you won't see two better performances
02:03from a Sunderland player consecutively.
02:05And what courage as well by Regis De Vries to make that decision.
02:08There's not many people who would have dropped Meppen.
02:10And how many headers did Ballard make again tonight?
02:13It's clear.
02:13And as he said himself,
02:15he didn't expect to be in the team on Friday night.
02:18He'd been out for so long.
02:19He didn't think he would start the game.
02:21And he's played two immense games.
02:24I mean, Ballard's written his name in folklore now.
02:26And whatever happens at Wembley against Sheffield United,
02:29for this team, this young team,
02:32to get there in the manner in which they got there,
02:36that is fairytale stuff.
02:37That is absolute fairytale stuff.
02:39They've got every chance against Sheffield United.
02:40They have.
02:40Who are a good side and deserve respect.
02:42He came close down there.
02:45It was feisty and no doubt it'll be a feisty final.
02:48But they will go in.
02:49Well, after a win like this,
02:50you go in with absolute belief.
02:52You go in with absolute confidence.
02:53You go in believing yourselves.
02:55I think Regis De Vries has always believed in this team.
02:58Setbacks and whatever.
02:59And I don't know what was going through his mind tonight
03:01during the game when it wasn't going Sunderland's way.
03:03But he's found a way again.
03:05He's found a way.
03:06And I think you saw that thing about trusting in the coach,
03:09trusting in Regis De Vries over the last few months.
03:12And you can't help but trust him because the results are proving it.
03:17We'll see you and about, what, 45,000, 50,000 other people
03:20down in London very shortly.
03:21Yeah.
03:22I mean, when is it?
03:23Two weeks?
03:23Less than that, isn't it?
03:24It's just, Wembley Way is,
03:27well, it's going to be a wash with red and white, isn't it?
03:29Because they're both red and white.
03:30But, I mean, it is.
03:31Who wears red and white?
03:32Well, it's definitely right.
03:33It's definitely right.
03:34They do wear the red and white.
03:35Because they're finished above.
03:35Because they're finished above.
03:36That's a shame.
03:37But, I don't think anybody will care.
03:40No, nobody will care.
03:41Right.
03:41Thank you very much.
03:42Cheers.