Sunderland trail Leeds United 2-1 and are mere seconds away from succumbing to a second defeat in three games.. The visitors from West Yorkshire just have to see out one set-piece and they will displace the hosts at the top of the league.

Anthony Patterson underhits a long free kick and Alan Browne desperately lifts the ball into the penalty area. Half the crowd, along with Browne himself, turn away in frustration as the ball tamely makes its way towards Illan Meslier … but the Frenchman inexplicably fails to get his body behind it and Sunderland have a 97th minute equaliser.

Sheer pandemonium breaks out around the Stadium of Light as seemingly every outfield Sunderland player jumps into the crowd where they are mobbed by jubilant supporters, even Regis Le Bris breaks out into a bemused smile at the proceedings.

Results go our way over the weekend and we head into the international break top of the Championship.

Hull are next up for the lads, where the referee temporarily gets in the way of a Tigers player and the ball breaks for Wilson Isidor who dinks the ‘keeper to give the lads a precious three points on the road. Tim Walter in the Hull dugout has a paddy and after the game goes on to bemoan the fact Bobby Madley doesn’t keep dossiers on their set piece routines.

At Kenilworth Road, after surviving an onslaught from the visitors in the first half, Carlton Morris reacts the sharpest at the back stick to give his side the lead…but hang on, much to the consternation of the Sky Sports studio and Rob Edwards, the assistant referee spots an offside, correctly applies the laws of the game and Sunderland go in level at the break.

In the second half despite more Luton pressure, we score two really good goals on the break to remain top of the league and take all three points back to SR5. Chris Iwelumo cries himself to sleep under his Luton Town FC duvet, decked out in Rob Edwards pyjamas.

Just three days later, our lead at the top of the league is extended to five points after an effortlessly dominant 2-0 win over Oxford United at the Stadium of Light.

I raise the above not just to revel in poking fun at Hull’s manager and a hysterical Sky Sports commentary team, but to highlight one of the key reasons, I am allowing myself to dream.

I don’t think it’s fair to say we have been lucky, but if the referee pulls the game back against Hull or the linesman isn’t quite so eagle-eyed against Luton, our current form may not be so overtly impressive.

After so long, we are coming out on the right side of these moments and the momentum very much feels with us right now.

It has long been a football cliche, that you make your own luck and I think this has been exemplified over the past week or so.

Against Hull City, both Le Bris and Hume in their post match analysis spoke of our plan to let the hosts take their corners short before applying the press as they approached the edge of our box.

Whether Madley was badly placed or not, we still executed that press to perfection, Neil showed good tenacity and skill to win the ball back and find Isidor before the striker showed unbelievable speed and composure to apply the finish.

Against Luton, their player made a movement towards the ball in an offside position and we defended our box heroically which gave us the platform to go on to win the game through two outstanding pieces of quality from Chris Rigg and Romaine Mundle.

This mix of methodical planning and calmness has very much been the key to our success so far this season and it can be dated right back to the start of Le Bris reign.

When he was appointed after an energy sapping second half of the 2023-24 campaign, followed by 49 days of speculation and seemingly never ending uncertainty there was a mixed reaction on Wearside.

It’s fair to say most of our fanbase aren’t well versed in French football, so the best we could do was look at his track record and consume a range of content from Lorient fans and reporters.

Prior to joining Sunderland, Le Bris had a limited body of work in the senior game and had managed only one club, who he had guided to their best league position in their history before subsequently suffering relegation.

Reports from fans were also mixed, while they rightfully heaped praise on him for his first season, there was criticism over his perceived stubbornness and tactical inflexibility.

Concerns were also raised over his Lorient side conceding the most goals during the 2023-24 Ligue 1 season, so far on Wearside he has proven that sometimes context is key to every managerial reign and each job must be taken on its merit.

From the moment he arrived, there was a clarity and decisiveness from our new head coach, in his first press conference, when asked if he would take influence from Pep Guardiola’s methods, he simply replied, “no, because this is Sunderland and I am Regis Le Bris”, no doubt this was a partly light-hearted, throwaway comment but it showed a level of self assurance and a determination to mould the lads in his image, his way.

Early on in his reign, there were two major stumbling blocks which could have developed into sagas, as we approached our first match of the season there was no sign of a new assistant coach or striker.

Le Bris made a big call by backing Mike Dodds and Michael Proctor to be his initial right hand men, this was a big risk for two reasons; firstly and perhaps slightly unfairly the way last season ended was seen as a yardstick of their coaching ability and many wanted to see a completely fresh start.

Secondly, if Le Bris didn’t hit the ground running, just like Michael Beale before him he would have cut a lonely figure on the touchline without someone trusted to lean on.

The Frenchman’s decision for keeping faith with Dodds and Proctor was based on sound logic, after all he wasn’t a man who had twenty years in football management with a trusty lieutenant by his side. Therefore it made sense to put our pursuit of a new assistant coach on the back burner while we dealt with more pressing matters.

On the striker front, Le Bris identified Eliezer Mayenda as his first choice striker and as early as the Blackpool game in pre-season, he had decided what his best XI, the formation he wanted to use and the style of play he was going to implement.

Although most of our business came late in the window, we got off to a flying start as Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley were beaten without conceding which gave us a brilliant foundation to allow key additions later in the window to flourish.

Throughout the 23/24 season the club were rightly criticised for getting a lack of first team ready players through the door and it could be argued that this summer has contained plenty of signings who haven’t made an immediate impact.

For instance, despite being a loan signing, Salis Abdul Samed has yet to prove his fitness, and the likes of Milan Aleksić and Ahmed Abdullahi have clearly been bought for the future.

However, this is where the similarities end quite abruptly, with minimal outlay the squad has been transformed from one that limped over the line to finish 16th last season to genuine promotion challengers.

Of course, most people never called into question the quality of the likes of Dan Neil, Chris Rigg and Jobe Bellingham, but the clarity and fluidity of Le Bris’ tactical vision has been echoed by our transfer business.

Early on in the window Alan Browne was signed to provide much needed experience and competition in the middle of the park and despite making a limited number of starts his impact around the dressing room and off the bench has been immediate.

Although they have both been scored in bizarre circumstances, the Irishman already has two goals to his name so far this campaign, and he has proven a steadying influence on games when introduced from the bench.

Wilson Isidor has been an inspired addition and has already scored more goals than our entire strike force combined last season.

He has also brought an infectious enthusiasm to the club and makes clever runs to occupy opposition defenders all game.

When Dan Ballard and Aji Alese suffered injury setbacks, rather than trying to muddle on until their return, we went out and loaned in Chris Mepham who so far looks a cut above Championship level and has formed a terrific partnership with Luke O’Nien.

After Mayenda’s injury turned out to be worse than first feared, we acted decisively to bring in Aaron Connolly who brings with him experience, talent and a determination to prove the doubters wrong and rebuild his career.

This smart recruitment has meant that we’ve not had to rush back players from injury, we have not had to expose Aleksić before he is ready and our Head Coach has utilised the squad at his disposal expertly.

A handful of supporters have suggested that Le Bris leaves his substitutions until late on in games, but so far I feel this has been understandable.

Our depth is overtly good, but due to injury our viable options off the bench have been limited, therefore I do not think it’s fair to assess the Frenchman’s proficiency in this area until some of our absentees make a return to fitness.

The above statements highlight the importance of both strong recruitment and having an astute Head Coach.

There is no doubt that Le Bris has been given the tools to work with, but he has also had to deal with the assistant issue, the early striker issue, the departure of Jack Clarke and has demonstrated a ruthless streak in terms of his team selection.

Romaine Mundle is a prime example of this, he is undoubtedly a player with huge talent but in a misfiring team, with a weaker coach, would he have enjoyed the same start to the season?

The quality of coaching on display has reminded us of just how much talent was already at the club. Dennis Cirkin is looking like the best left back in the division right now, our midfield trio could all potentially apply their trade at the very top of the game and despite still finding goal contributions difficult to come by, Patrick Roberts has looked back to the player we grew to love under Tony Mowbray.

Le Bris has also played a huge part in utilising our home support and has spoken at length about adapting our game model to get our fans involved as much as possible.

This has clearly borne fruit as we remain unbeaten at home having kept five clean sheets from six games, scoring 10 and conceding just two. Overall we have scored the most goals in the league and have still generally maintained fantastic defensive solidity.

So far this campaign, we have blown teams away at times, we’ve adopted an aggressive high press, we’ve been solid in our shape, we’ve controlled games with, and without the ball, we’ve scored the most goals in the league while also keeping and we’ve found a variety of ways to win a game.

Despite understandable reservations, Le Bris has proven to be adaptable, pragmatic, tactically astute and making tweaks midgame to ensure we get the right result.

With some excellent, decisive coaching, some strong recruitment and the odd sprinkling of good fortune, it really does feel as though we are on our way.