WHEN Sunderland’s players walked off the pitch at Bristol Rovers’ Memorial Ground in March 2020, they did not know that their season was about to be brought to a premature end. Nor did they have any idea that it would be another 14 months before they would be able to play in front of spectators again.

The footballing world has had to become accustomed to the sight of empty stadia, but Saturday’s FA Cup final provided a timely reminder of just what has been missed in the absence of fans.

Just as Leicester’s players clearly relished the opportunity to celebrate in front of their supporters at Wembley, so Sunderland’s will be desperately hoping they also get the opportunity to lift silverware in front of thousands of jubilant fans at the end of the month.

First, though, they must come through a play-off semi-final with Lincoln City, with the first leg set to take place in front of 2,750 Imps fans at Sincil Bank tomorrow night. In normal circumstances, a crowd of that size would be thoroughly underwhelming. Tomorrow, it should provide one of the highlights of the season so far.

“It’s going to be very different,” said Lee Johnson. “Even with that number of fans in the building, that’ll probably feel like 15,000 compared to what we’ve been used to. We’re looking forward to it.

“There’s a real excitement there without doubt. You can feel the excitement within the squad, and it actually seems more about the fans than the magnitude of the game. I think all the lads have been talking about that side of it, and how they’re just desperate to experience the highs and lows of a matchday with fans there.”

Johnson has not taken charge of a Sunderland game in front of fans, and the head coach readily admits he expects to learn new things about one or two of his players over the course of the next couple of games.

Some will relish the opportunity to feed off a passionate atmosphere; others could retreat into their shells. Either way, second guessing how certain people will react will feed into his team selection for the two legs of the semi-final.

“I think it’ll actually be really strange,” he said. “It’s interesting because you can actually consider team selection in a slightly different way. You get certain players that are what I would term high-sensation seekers, and without doubt, some players will come alive with a crowd there. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a home crowd or an away crowd.

“I’m still learning about this group, and what I haven’t seen is who responds well to supporters and who maybe feels a bit more pressure when supporters are there. That’ll be interesting, and I’ll have to quickly suss that out in the opening 45 minutes.”

Sunderland have sold all 10,000 of their tickets for Saturday’s second leg, and while the Stadium of Light will be less than a quarter-full, the atmosphere should be electric. Playing the second leg at home was the Black Cats’ reward for a fourth-place finish, and Johnson is confident it will be a major advantage.

“The fans should never underestimate, and we should never underestimate, the power they can bring to a performance," he said. "When it’s positive and aggressive, it’s worth a goal. We’ve got to make 10,000 sound like 40,000, and it probably will.”