Loan Watch: Three Reds on the scoresheet
Amad continues to sparkle as he extended Sunderland's season by helping to fire the Black Cats into the Championship play-offs.
The Manchester United loanee told us recently that "nothing is impossible" when pursuing promotion with the Black Cats, who did enough to bag the final spot in sixth to set up home-and-away dates with Luton Town.
After chances were missed at both ends against Preston North End, he opened the scoring with a quite brilliant strike, sweeping majestically past Freddie Woodman in the home goal.
He was involved in the build-up to substitute Alex Pritchard's second and a quickfire third, by Jack Clarke, meant the Wearsiders just had to wait on results elsewhere. Thankfully for Tony Mowbray's side, his former club Blackburn Rovers came from behind to defeat Millwall 4-3 to send the Lions spinning out of contention.
Man Utd fans 👋
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 8, 2023
Amad Diallo just did this 👇pic.twitter.com/zMM8mjL4K1
After the game, Amad joined Luke O'Nien for the post-match interview on Sky Sports, and his team-mate said: "I said it the other day to someone, the day he came in, the standards he’s raised, just in terms of what he does on the ball, is incredible.
"So yeah, thank you, man! You’ve still got a job to do! But yeah he’s been incredible, we love him and I know the fans love him as well.”
Amad added: "So we are happy to win the game. Now we are focused for the play-offs. I hope maybe we can go to the Premier League. I enjoy to play with these fans, they give us so much energy."
The Ivory Coast international's 13 goals mean he is Sunderland's top league scorer, in addition to winning their Young Player of the Year award.
Alvaro Fernandez, on the opposing side for Preston on Monday, bagged North End's equivalent prize, after his impressive campaign for the Lancashire club.
The Spanish youngster contributed to plenty of attacking menace down the left, on what turned out to be a difficult afternoon for the hosts, who ended up second best after the break.
Elsewhere in the Championship, Hannibal came off the bench in the 66th minute as Birmingham City lost 2-1 at home to promoted Sheffield United.
Ethan Laird played the full 90 minutes at right-back as Queens Park Rangers were beaten 2-0 by Bristol City at Loftus Road. Axel Tuanzebe was not involved in Stoke City's 2-0 reverse at Watford.
There was joy for Shola Shoretire, who scored his first senior goal, as Bolton Wanderers won 3-2 at Bristol Rovers in League One. The young forward got off the mark for the Trotters when claiming the opener and can look forward to the play-offs, with two games against Barnsley on the horizon.
Di'Shon Bernard played at centre-back as Portsmouth drew 2-2 with Wycombe Wanderers. During a 2-0 loss at Cambridge United, Charlie Savage came on for Forest Green Rovers in the 48th minute.
Ethan Galbraith was an unused substitute as Salford City lost 1-0 at home to Gillingham but still claimed a place in the League Two play-offs.
Another of our scorers this weekend was defender Will Fish, who headed home in Hibernian's 2-1 victory over St Mirren in Scotland's top flight. It was his third goal since joining the Edinburgh outfit and turned out to be the eventual winner, as Hibs boosted their hopes of qualifying for Europe next season.
Right time, right plaice.
— Hibernian Football Club (@HibernianFC) May 8, 2023
Big Will Fish 🐟⚽️ pic.twitter.com/iEj21JtrGO
"He's been fantastic," Hibs manager Lee Johnson told BBC Sport. "I've said before if you could build a centre-half, you'd build Will Fish. He's a great student and a great lad and he's had to up his gravitas levels for this league and his on-pitch personalities.
"He's a lad that had never played a league game so far in his career. He went to Stockport last year, and hardly played a game, so it's a big step for him and one that he has really taken to well.. He's trusted by the boys, trusted by the staff, and it's a great sign."