Interim boss Mike Dodds expects to still be in charge of Sunderland for Tuesday’s visit of Leeds after guiding the Black Cats to a 2-1 win over West Brom.
Dodds was handed the head coach role on a temporary basis after Tony Mowbray was sacked earlier this week and got off to the perfect start as the hosts brought a three-game winless run to an end.
The interview process for a new head coach is under way but Dodds does not expect an appointment to be made in the coming days.
“As far as I’m aware I’m in charge on Tuesday, nobody has told me otherwise,” said Dodds.
“I will stick to my plan until someone else tells me otherwise.”
Dan Ballard and Dan Neil scored Sunderland’s second-half goals against the Baggies, who halved the deficit through substitute Brandon Thomas-Asante late on but couldn’t force an equaliser.
Dodds said: “I’m a perfectionist and I want to have complete control of the game, I didn’t like elements of the first half where they had too much control of the ball, albeit without hurting us too much.
“I think they played through us and our shape a little too much. The second half I think is a Sunderland team regardless of who is in charge: youthful, on the front foot, turning the game into 1-v-1 both attacking and defending, being brave in and out of possession; the second half for me is a Sunderland team.”
With Sunderland’s four strikers still without a goal this season, Dodds opted to play midfielder Jobe Bellingham up-front against West Brom and the teenager had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside in the first half.
“I had the privilege of coaching him from a very young age and I watched him playing as a striker pretty much up until the under-14s,” said Dodds, who worked with both Bellingham brothers at Birmingham.
“It wasn’t until he got a bit older that his position changed.
“I’m not saying he’s a number nine, just that he’s a player who has a knack of breaking into the box and who can naturally find space in the box.
“The reality is that for an 18-year-old, with a bit of luck he could have almost double figures to his name this season. We’ll see what Tuesday brings but as I’ve said before, the reality is I could play him anywhere on the pitch and he’d perform.”
West Brom have now lost two games on the bounce and boss Carlos Corberan was frustrated with his side’s display on Wearside.
He said: “We didn’t perform to the best level we have as a team. I know the quality of the players Sunderland have.
“After the mistake that led to the Sunderland goal that was disallowed, it created a lot of doubt in ourselves.
“From that moment, Sunderland attacked more and we defended more. We created problems for ourselves.”
Corberan handed Josh Maja his first start of the season but the former Sunderland striker was forced off injured in the first half.
Corberan said: “It’s unfair for him. He had eight weeks out of the team. In the last three weeks he’s come back and the first time I put him in the first XI, he gets another injury from a foul.”
Saudi Pro League: Mahrez and Firmino on target as Al-Ahli tighten grip on third place
Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino were both on target as Al-Ahli tightened their grip on third place in the Saudi Pro League table with a 4-1 win over Damac on Thursday.
Matthias Jaissle's team were four goals up within just 25 minutes as Damac folded, Ziyad Al Johani and Feras Al Brikan netting their first two before Franck Kessie was felled by Dhari Al Anazi for a penalty, converted by Mahrez.
Firmino then tapped home a fourth after being teed up by former Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin on the break, but Al-Ahli took their foot off the gas from there, Domagoj Antolic's second-half consolation rounding off the scoring.
Elsewhere, 10-man Al-Riyadh scored two stoppage-time draws to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw with Al-Fateh in Al-Mubarraz.
Goals from Djaniny and former Columbus Crew star Lucas Zelarayan put Slaven Bilic's hosts on the brink of victory, with Al-Riyadh playing almost half the game a player down after Khalid Al Shuwayyi's 54th-minute red card.
An astonishing collapse denied them, however, with Mohammed Al Shwirekh halving the arrears one minute into stoppage time before Didier Ndong headed in a left-wing cross three minutes later.
Thursday's other game saw Al-Hazm and Al-Akhdoud play out a goalless draw, keeping the hosts bottom of the table while Al-Akhdoud inched two points clear of the relegation zone.
Will Still leaves Reims job with immediate effect
Will Still has left his role as Reims head coach with immediate effect, the Ligue 1 club announced on Thursday.
Still took over as Reims boss – initially on an interim basis – after Oscar Garcia was sacked in October 2022 and went unbeaten through his first 19 league games at the helm.
The 31-year-old was eventually handed the role on a permanent basis and led Reims to an 11th-placed finish in Ligue 1 in 2022-23, with his lack of a UEFA Pro Licence causing the club to be fined €25,000 per match until he began the course.
Reims are currently 11th in Ligue 1 again, though they are winless in their last five games and have lost each of their last three.
In a statement, the club said: "Following a meeting this morning between president Jean-Pierre Caillot, general manager Mathieu Lacour and head coach Will Still, it was mutually agreed that the two parties would not continue the sporting adventure together next season.
"In order to allow Reims to confidently look forward to the next year, it was also decided that Will Still and his deputy Nicolas Still would step down from their respective functions as of today."
Still was linked with the Sunderland job earlier this season and said in February that he would be open to joining an "ambitious" Championship club.
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
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