Punter lands 'bet of the season' as Sunderland complete miracle comeback vs Sheffield United to win Championship play-off

The Championship Play-Off final is famous for being the richest club game in English football and so it proved for one lucky punter this season.

Sunderland came back from a goal down to beat Sheffield United at Wembley on Saturday, upsetting the odds and returning to the Premier League after an eight-year absence that took them as low as the third tier.

The Blades took the lead through Tyrese Campbell's brilliant breakaway goal in the middle of the first half and had a Harrison Burrows strike disallowed for offside shortly before half time.

Regis Le Bris led Sunderland to Wembley in his first season in English football but they limped into the play-offs in awful league form.

A dramatic winner against Coventry City in the semi-final set up a final against Chris Wilder's Sheffield United and Sunderland thrived in the role of underdogs.

Eliezer Mayenda's rocket into the top corner looked to have taken the game into extra time but there was another late sting in the tail of the Black Cats.

Tom Watson, a 19-year-old winger who was already on the way to the Premier League as a new signing for Brighton & Hove Albion, curled a pinpoint pea-roller into the bottom corner to drag his current teammates up with him.

And there was another stunning result for the brainy bet-maker, who picked out a genius double to turn a £5 stake into £1,630 at odds of 326/1.

Backing Watson to score the third goal of the final was quite a shout in its own right. The teenager from County Durham had two Championship goals to his name and was an unused substitute in both legs of the play-off semi-final against Coventry.

Tom Watson!! Great comeback by Sunderland !! pic.twitter.com/7L0qSmaX10

— H (@hsmtips) May 24, 2025

Once the trickier half of the gutsy double came in for the punter, the second part was a formality.

With the ball in the net, the mammoth pay-out relied on Watson collecting a yellow card. There aren't too many situations when a 95th-minute winning goal in a Wembley play-off final won't be immediately followed by a caution.

Watson could now line up against Sunderland in the Premier League next season.

But thousands of Mackems and one slightly wealthier punter will always consider him a topless legend.