Whenever Sunderland look to be full of confidence again and ready to put together a positive sequence of results in the Championship, another bump in the road arrives for the Black Cats.
Millwall secured their status as a second-tier club away at the Stadium of Light by winning 1-0, benefitting from a charitable home side who let the Lions score their only shot on target to win by the skin of their teeth.
Mike Dodds will know that these two games to end the season he has to manage in the interim hot-seat are likely to be his last, with the man he surprisingly picked up top to lead the line against the visitors from South London also resigned to the fact he could be exiting this summer.
Bradley Dack's inclusion in Dodds' XI on Saturday was a surprising one, considering the former Blackburn Rovers attacker has been in and around the treatment room at the Wearside club more than actually playing on the pitch this season.
Missing large chunks of the campaign owing to a recurring thigh issue, this was Dack's 16th Championship appearance for the Black Cats and a frankly unmemorable one at that.
The injury-prone 30-year-old would only last 45 minutes before being hauled off by Dodds, with the ex-Riversiders man mustering up just 11 touches of the ball as an isolated attacker for the Black Cats.
Dack would also fail to fire a single effort at the Millwall goal from his dismal run-out at the Stadium of Light, mustering up two key passes but struggling to really pose a goalscoring threat himself up top.
The Sunderland number 46 would be sacrificed for a tactical switch as stated by Dodds at full-time, but his below-par display must have also underwhelmed the stand-in Black Cats boss enough to make that decision at the break.
|
Dack's performance in numbers |
|
|---|---|
|
Minutes played |
45 |
|
Touches |
11 |
|
Accurate passes |
5/6 |
|
Shots on goal |
0 |
|
Duels won |
0/2 |
|
Stats by Sofascore |
|
Handed a middle-of-the-road 5/10 rating by Sunderland Echo journalist Phil Smith when the dust had settled post-match, Dack could see his spot taken up by a different Sunderland body when the Wearside outfit play Watford next.
With his contract up at the end of the season, and Sunderland insistent on starting up-and-coming gems, it looks unlikely Dack will be kept on with that showing against Millwall potentially his last-ever outing in a Black Cats strip.
Dack could well join Corry Evans in leaving the building this summer, with his fellow Sunderland teammate similarly unlucky when it comes to injuries.
Evans also finds himself out of contract, coming in at 33 years of age and representing the older heads still left in the group alongside a 30-year-old Dack.
RelatedIt would be a sad demise for Dack if he was made a free agent this summer, brought into the building by ex-manager Tony Mowbray at the start of the season to try and recapture his glory days at Ewood Park.
That plan just hasn't worked out whatsoever, with Dack managing just a solitary goal this campaign which is a far cry away from when the 5 foot 9 attacker bagged 15 goals during the 2018-19 season for Blackburn at the same level.
Still, based on his showing against Millwall, his best days look far behind him.
