Michael Graham claims Preston North End made one vital mistake that ‘changed the game’ for Sunderland

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Sunderland managed to claw their way back into the game against Preston North End on Tuesday night, and one expert thinks that’s all down to something the visitors to the Stadium of Light got wrong.

Going into the game on the back of two successive wins, Sunderland were feeling confident and were hoping to pick up another three points to keep their automatic promotion hopes alive.

However, it was a pretty dire showing from the Black Cats, as reflected in our Sunderland player ratings from the game.

Thankfully, Romaine Mundle stepped up to save his team with a stunning late goal to level the scores after Emil Riis had put Preston ahead.

Sunderland didn’t look like getting anything from the game for large portions of the night, but one thing affected the whole mood around the ground and changed the momentum on the pitch.

• READ MORE: Sunderland fans weren’t happy with ‘virtually anonymous’ man after Preston draw, he was a ‘passenger’

Preston North End riled up the Stadium of Light crowd

Taking to Twitter/X to discuss where Sunderland went wrong, Michael Graham also pointed the finger at some of the actions of the Preston North End side and their approach to seeing out the game, suggesting the timewasting and poor sportsmanship was ultimately their downfall.

He said: “I actually think Preston would’ve won without the cheating tonight. Turned the Stadium of Light into an absolute cauldron and changed the game. Feel Sunderland were plodding towards a lacklustre defeat without that massive injection of energy.”

He’s right about the lacklustre part, at least. Sunderland were limp and lifeless for much of the game, and it took a slew of timewasting incidents, with Preston players dropping to the floor with potential injuries before jumping back up, to really rile up the home crowd and get the Sunderland squad going again.

On this, Graham added: “If the performance is flat, the atmosphere is flat. That’s not a Sunderland problem really, just the way it is. As soon as there is encouragement, the crowd show up, even for as much as a tackle, but nothing was happening at all tonight.”

We noticed a lot of empty seats on the night, with fans either not turning up or simply deciding they had seen enough early in the second half. With the performance on offer last night, who can blame them?

• READ MORE: ‘Look at the body language’… What Gary Bennett noticed about unhappy Sunderland player vs Preston

Sunderland have to rectify home form before the play-offs

Heading into the New Year, Sunderland were one of the few teams in the country still unbeaten at home. Sadly, that record was spoiled by Hull City last month, and truth be told, the Black Cats have looked vulnerable at the Stadium of Light for a while now.

That defeat against Hull really stripped Sunderland of their greatest weapon in the fight for promotion; they lost confidence and that feeling of unbeatability.

We’ve seen Sunderland drop points against Watford, Plymouth, and now Preston at home in the last month, and this rut on Wearside has to be stopped as soon as possible.

Looking ahead to Sunderland’s play-off hopes, that home leg of the potential semi-final will be huge, and the players need to get back on track at the Stadium of Light now to ensure they make it count when it matters most.