IT has been a year like no other. Twelve months ago, Sunderland’s players were still clinging to the hope that the 2019-20 season would be resurrected, and their ambition of winning promotion would be restored. Instead, confirmation that they had controversially missed out on the play-offs arrived in June, and as the world gradually started returning to a new state of normality, attention turned to the current campaign.

That campaign has certainly been eventful. A change of manager preceded a change of ownership. Lee Johnson brought new ideas and a change of style, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus oversaw an immediate change of backroom structure and laid out ambitious long-term plans for the future. And all the while, Sunderland’s players ploughed their way through a gruelling 46-game season played out to a backdrop of empty stadia and the enforced absence of fans.

There have been high points, most notably the Papa John’s Trophy final success that finally ended the Black Cats’ Wembley hoodoo, and low points, led of course by the failure to win automatic promotion. There was also the difficulty of a full-blown Covid outbreak that forced Sunderland’s squad into a fortnight of isolation either side of Christmas.

Just making it to the end of the campaign unscathed is something of an achievement, but as he looks ahead to the start of Sunderland’s play-off campaign on Wednesday, Denver Hume is excited by the prospect of being able to sign off this most remarkable of seasons on a high. See off Lincoln, and then triumph in the final at Wembley at the end of the month, and the challenge of overcoming the multiple obstacles that have been placed in the Black Cats’ way will have been more than worthwhile.

“It feels like a season that’s had a bit of everything, to be fair,” said Hume, who has had to overcome his own personal injury difficulties in order to reclaim a place in the side for the final month of the season. “When the season got cut short last year, it was a tough period for everyone.

“We missed out on going up last year, and it wasn’t just that we all thought we still had a chance of winning promotion, the simple fact is that we did but it was taken away from us. When it was cut short initially, we didn’t know if the season was going to start again, so all the lads were still keeping themselves fit. We had programmes to do from home, so all that stuff was pretty tough at the start.

“It’s been good how they’ve got this season done, especially with it having started so late. To fit all those games in with everything that’s been happening is a good effort from everyone. I think that’s why if we did go up, that would make it all the better because of all those hurdles we’ve had to cross, with the situation we’ve been in. As long as we make sure we get the job done, we’ll look back on it as a season that we definitely won’t forget for a long time with everything that’s been going on. That’s the aim for everyone – to make sure that it’s worth it in the end.”

To do that, Sunderland first have to overcome Lincoln in a two-legged semi-final that takes them to Sincil Bank on Wednesday before the return leg takes place at the Stadium of Light, in front of 10,000 supporters, on Saturday afternoon.

The sides have met on three previous occasions this season, with two of the games finishing in a draw after 90 minutes, so Hume is expecting a pair of close encounters.

There could well be similarities to two years ago, when Sunderland came through two closely-fought games against Portsmouth to claim the 1-0 aggregate victory that took them into the play-off final, and with the likes of Tom Flanagan, Luke O’Nien, Max Power, Grant Leadbitter, Lynden Gooch and Charlie Wyke all having been involved in those matches, Hume, who was an unused substitute in the first leg, is hoping the Black Cats’ semi-final experience will prove decisive.

“It definitely helps when you’ve got lads that have been in that situation before,” he said. “Obviously, last time, it didn’t quite work out in the final, but we came through a tight semi-final against Portsmouth and I thought we handled ourselves really well in those two games. Having those two games against a team we knew would give us a close game can only help.

“We’re expecting a similar situation again. We’ll definitely fancy ourselves over the two legs, but when you look at where Lincoln have been throughout the season, they were riding top for a period. We know it’ll be a tough game, and we know it’ll probably be two tight games over the two legs. But if we bring out the best in ourselves, the lads and the squad are very confident we can get the job done and get into the final.”

Like 2019, Sunderland’s players have known their fate a few weeks, with hopes of securing automatic promotion having disappeared before the final weekend of the season.

That can often help in terms of mental preparation for the play-offs, and while there has been a degree of dissecting what happened in the regular season, the overriding sense within the Sunderland squad is that the next two weeks represent a fresh start in a stand-alone three-game mini-tournament that will make or break their promotion hopes.

“I think, to a certain degree, you draw a line under everything’s that gone before now,” said Hume. “It’s effectively a three-game tournament, although you obviously have to win the first game over the two legs to get in that final.

“It’s all on the line now – you just have to bring your best out in those games. You obviously still take things from the games that you’ve played over the course of the season, but in a lot of ways, it’s a new start now and almost a different competition.”

The primary task on Wednesday is to establish a strong position ahead of the second leg on Wearside, with the presence of supporters sure to add a welcome extra dimension to both matches.

Hume concedes that he and his team-mates have grown used to the soulless experience of playing in an empty Stadium of Light, with spectators last having been inside Sunderland's home ground more than 14 months ago for a 2-2 draw with Gillingham that ultimately proved crucial when last season's standings were calculated on a points-per-game basis.

Unfortunately, with attendances capped at a 10,000 limit under the third phase of the Government's lockdown easing programme, thousands of spectators will still miss out on the chance to roar their side on in two days’ time. Nevertheless, the presence of 10,000 fans could still prove a crucial factor in determining Sunderland’ semi-final fate.

“At the start, it was strange for everyone,” said Hume. “But once you’ve played five or ten games without fans, you’re not really thinking about it anymore. Sadly, you become used to an empty stadium. Thankfully, we’ve reached a point where the fans are back, and in play-off games, you’ve got to use the support of the fans as best you can.

“It’ll help us having the away leg first. If we can come back with a decent result, then knowing we’ve got our fans back will only give us even more confidence going into that second leg. It’ll help push us through and make sure we get into the final and progress from there.”