IT was a win that not only lifted Sunderland back into the Championship's top six but provided the club's decision makers with something crucial and craved: time.

The message coming out of the club at the back end of last week was that Sunderland's bosses wouldn't be rushed into making a head coach appointment. That's not to say they'll be dragging their heels but the priority since the process to identify and appoint Tony Mowbray's successor got underway last Monday has been making the right call rather than a quick one.

That's the way it should be and yet, as is always the case in football, results flex their muscles and ultimately determine what happens and when.

For all Sunderland's chiefs are adamant they wouldn't be rushed, had the team lost convincingly to West Brom on Saturday and if a negative result against the Baggies was followed up by a defeat against Leeds United - which, to be perfectly honest wasn't absolutely out of the question given recent form and with the uncertainty of not knowing how the players would react to Mowbray's exit - there's no getting away from the fact there'd have been pressure on a swift conclusion to the manager search.

Not because Sunderland are desperately in need of points or searching for a saviour in a scrap for survival as is so often the case when there's a change in the dugout. But because this campaign is very much alive and even if Mike Dodds talks about the focus inside the club being on the "process rather than the outcome", supporters need to be on side and don't want to feel momentum or an opportunity slipping away.

For the Black Cats, there were two clear conclusions to be drawn from Saturday's win. Firstly, the performance will back-up Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman's belief that the side is in good hands with Dodds in interim charge. And secondly - and this is nothing we didn't know before the game - this is a rare and unique Championship opportunity for potential head coach candidates. It isn't a battle at the bottom and there aren't a long list of issues to be addressed. Instead, it's a young, exciting group of players who have shown they can handle themselves against anyone in this division and are absolutely in contention for another top six finish.

That's credit to those who decided on the vision and who identified and signed the young players, but also to Mowbray for his outstanding work during his time in charge. It was Mowbray - and his coaching team, including Dodds -  who nurtured Pierre Ekwah and turned potential into a dominant midfield force. Ekwah was excellent against West Brom. The former boss brought the very best out of Jack Clarke, and used his experience of working with young players to impressively aid the progression of Anthony Patterson, Dan Ballard, Dan Neil, Trai Hume, Niall Huggins. You could go on.

What - and who - comes next? As Dodds said himself in his press conference last Friday, this is a "hugely attractive and exciting" opportunity. Is Dodds himself a candidate? The question would have to be asked if he was to oversee a victory against Leeds United on Tuesday.

That will be an even tougher test than West Brom but Sunderland's players - and Dodds - will take confidence from their deserved victory over the Baggies.

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For Dodds, it was undoubtedly a relief to lay the ghosts of Cheltenham and Doncaster to rest. But as he pointed out, it's the present and the future that matters now, not what happened in the early months of 2022 in League One.

"I felt really strange about answering that question about my previous stint in charge before the game," said Dodds.

"I felt like the narrative was it was Mike Dodds vs West Brom but it wasn't. I'm just really happy for everyone connected with the football club.

"We have to keep working with these players because there's only upside in terms of their talent."

Whoever the new head coach is, he won't be ripping things up and starting again. The framework is already in place and the team already set up to play the Sunderland way. It's about finding a candidate who'll slot in seamlessly and understand the model.

Dodds said: "The second half on Saturday I think is a Sunderland team regardless of who is in charge.

"Youthful, on the front foot, turning the game into 1-v-1 both attacking and defending. Being brave in and out of possession, the second half for me is a Sunderland team."

To the untrained eye, the first half was decent enough as well but Dodds said there were "elements he didn't like". Still, Sunderland were the better team from the get-go. They should have gone ahead inside 15 minutes when Jobe Bellingham - preferred up-front to the club's four out-and-out strikers - had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside.

Up-front for the opposition was a certain Josh Maja, making his first West Brom start of the season on his first Stadium of Light return, but his afternoon was cut short after a tackle from Dan Ballard that the visitors felt worthy of a red rather than the yellow referee Darren Bond flashed.

Sunderland were excellent after the break but it was the introduction of Alex Pritchard from the bench that proved decisive. The experienced midfielder delivered the cross for Dan Ballard's opener on 69 minutes and then played in Dan Neil for the second quarter of an hour later.

There was a late scare after Brandon Thomas-Asante halved the deficit but anything other than a home win would have been harsh on Sunderland. It was an impressive end to a strange week. Now to see what the next week brings.