Sunderland managed to secure a 2-2 draw against Watford after a hard-fought battle, but unfortunately, they fell behind in the play-off race.

Sunderland and Watford clashed in the Sky Bet Championship match at the Stadium of Light, where the former fought back but failed to move up to the top six. Despite being two goals down after Christian Kabasele and Ryan Porteous scored for Watford, Sunderland managed to keep their play-off hopes alive with a late equalizer from Patrick Roberts in stoppage time. Luke O'Nien had earlier scored for Sunderland to halve the deficit. The draw extended Sunderland's unbeaten run to eight games, leaving them two points behind sixth-placed Millwall. Had Sunderland lost, their play-off hopes would have vanished if Blackburn had won against Luton on Monday night. Watford remains in 13th place. Manchester United loanee Amad Diallo showed promise for Sunderland early on, but Watford took the lead against the run of play with Kabasele's thumping header from an Imran Louza corner after 17 minutes.