Sunderland’s hopes of automatic promotion from League One are over and some fans are now wishing Oviedo had joined West Bromwich Albion in January.
For a team who have made a habit in recent years of a sudden burst of form in the spring, there is a certain irony about the fact that Sunderland have thrown away their chances of automatic promotion in the final weeks of the League One campaign.
A run of one win in six games has cost Jack Ross’s side dear, with Barnsley and Luton Town securing their returns to the Championship on Tuesday night at the Black Cats’ expense.
And the nature of their midweek defeat away at Fleetwood only exacerbates the frustrations. Sunderland were a goal up with 20 minutes to go, only to lose 2-1 thanks to Ashley Eastham’s 95th-minute winner.
But it all could have been different if Oviedo, a Costa Rican international who played at last summer’s World Cup and remains one of the club’s highest earners, had not switched off like an amateur in the lead up to Fleetwood’s equaliser.
Oviedo told CRHoy earlier this year that he was on the verge of joining West Brom in January, having even passed a medical with The Baggies.
And it seems that, while West Brom probably dodged a bullet, Sunderland fans are wishing the documents had been signed in time.
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