Denver Hume was a late substitute in last weekend’s Checkatrade Trophy final, playing the entire 30 minutes in extra time.

An 88th-minute addition, he played his part in the late, late equaliser at the end of the extra period that saw Aiden McGeady score his second of the afternoon to take the game to penalties.

It wasn’t to be Sunderland’s day, however, losing 5-4 on spot-kicks in front of 85,000 at Wembley.

The 20-year-old took to social media on Monday evening after reflecting on the loss having picked himself up from missing out on his first trophy in senior football.

Hume expressed how ‘gutted’ he was not to be able to get over the line and win the cup.

And he offered a clear vision to his teammates and the supports in demanding the club go and ‘finish the season off strong’ with promotion back to the Championship still in their own hands.

Sunderland have three games on Barnsley who are in second, and if the Back Cats win the trio of backlogged fixtures, they will move into the automatic spot with their promotion fate firmly in their control.

With that said, there were plenty of Sunderland fans rallying around Hume after his comments offering positive words to the youngster as the Wembley fallout continued.