The Alex Neil approach that is paying off for Sunderland right now - and the challenges ahead

“I can’t believe you’re asking me about the long term at Sunderland,” he joked at his pre-match press conference.

This has been something of a theme since his arrival in early February, insistent that the only thing he can afford to think about is the next game.

A crucial win at Oxford United was further vindication for his tunnel vision.

Neil has now taken 19 points from his ten games, a record which over the course of the season would take any side to the brink of League One promotion. It’s even more impressive when you consider he had been in charge a matter of hours before the 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon, meaning you could reasonably argue that his true record is bang on two points-per-game.

It’s even more impressive still when you reflect on the storm he walked into: acrimony over ownership share revelations, concern over the process that looked at one stage like bringing Roy Keane back to the club, the vast disparities in match fitness across a squad that had now lost three games in a row.

After losing 2-1 to MK Dons a week after his arrival, our post-match analysis posited that promotion had arguably not felt as far away since the numbing defeats and draws of Phil Parkinson’s turbulent first few months on Wearside.

Sunderland seemed to be stuck in a painfully familiar cycle, freezing in the final third and exposed too easily on the break.

Neil himself will be the first to tell you that nothing has been achieved yet but it has been a feat of sorts to even get this side and this club back on its feet, heading into the Easter fixtures on the up and with their promotion fate now firmly in their own hands.

Throughout his tenure, Neil has been quite clear that he does not feel this is a job where you can afford to look too far ahead. It is a job, he has said, that could swallow up an inexperienced manager not used to the scrutiny.

Before beating Gillingham he had joked with the media that they did not need to remind him of the importance of the upcoming game: “It’s the one thing that never escapes you working at Sunderland, I’ve already been reminded of that about six times in this press conference.

“I get it, I understand it, you don’t need to continually remind me of it. We will do our best.”

Neil’s no-nonsense, next-game only approach has been pretty much exactly what Sunderland needed and his analysis that fans would be happier talking about philosophy in the Championship was astute.