The promotion pendulum continues to swing from side to side.
The Easter Monday draw at Peterborough United - along with victories for Barnsley and Portsmouth - means automatic promotion is no longer in Sunderland's hands.
For four minutes they were masters of their own destiny.
Max Power's 87th-minute goal at London Road put them in control.
But Matt Godden's strike in the first minute of added time wrenched it back out of their grasp.
The picture has changed dramatically over the last fortnight since Sunderland's draw against Burton Albion lifted them into the automatic promotion places for the first time since November.
Back then they were a point clear of third-placed Barnsley with a game in hand, and three ahead of Portsmouth having played the same number of games.
But while the Tykes and Pompey have each taken maximum points from their three games over the last fortnight, Sunderland have stumbled and collected only four from their games against Coventry City, Doncaster Rovers, and now Posh.
They have dropped to fourth place in the table, six points behind tabletoppers Luton Town, four behind Barnsley, and two behind Portsmouth.
So tight is the automatic promotion race that with 11 days of the season remaining, any of the top four could still end up as champions, and any could find themselves having to take their chances in the play-offs.
Even fifth-placed Charlton Athletic, two points behind Sunderland with two games to play, still have a mathematical chance of automatic promotion.
But let's forget the technicalities for a second.
Realistically, Luton will take one of the automatic promotion places - almost certainly as champions.
And it is a three-way fight for the other between Sunderland, Barnsley, and Pompey.
The significance of the Easter Monday results is that Sunderland are now the outsiders in that three-horse race.
It has piled even more pressure onto what was already considered a must-win game against Portsmouth at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, and it also leaves Sunderland relying on Barnsley to drop points.
Sunderland can still get there.
Even at this late stage, there is time for the pendulum to swing once more.
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