Boss Ross on the weight of expectation on his side

JACK ROSS says expectation is proving Sunderland’s toughest opponent this season.

The Wearsiders are the giants of League One, pulling in 37,791 for this incident-packed promotion clash with Luton. They are the biggest scalp, the team everyone raises their game against.

Logic says they should be running away at the top, given the gates they get, instead of chasing the leaders in third but manager Ross is trying to launch a promotion push against a background of massive cuts, financial restructuring... and the huge burden of expectation.

The Scot explained: “Maybe the view from afar is that only being third in the table is underachieving.

“We are a good League One team. We are not a Premier League team that has been chucked into League One.

“We are in a really good position. Not brilliant, but good.

“We have to keep an element of positivity. You can be enveloped in expectation here. We have to get better too.

“There are loads of different facets. When you are here you are playing for a big club. Whether you like Sunderland or hate Sunderland, you can’t dispute this is a big club with an incredible fan-base ande an incredible infrastructure.

“That brings expectation, pressure and responsibility, not just on me but on the players too.

“How other clubs perceive visiting this stadium, how rival supporters view picking up a result against us – all those things come into the mix.”

Ross hinted his players were disappointed not to beat promotion rivals Luton, a 10th draw of the season leaving them five points behind leaders Portsmouth.

He added: “I continue to make sure that I keep my players upbeat.

“They need me to drag them along and it is up to me to say ‘don’t leave here with your chin on the floor. You are third in the league, a game in hand, right in amongst it with loads of the season to go.’

“We are in a good place. We are not eight or ninth in the table looking to scratch into the play-offs. We have given ourselves a chance. And we’ve scored in every league game.”

Luton caretaker Mick Harford, a Sunderland fan, says Ross is sorting out loads of “sh*t” and wants them to go up with his club.

Chris Maguire, later to be sent off in stoppage time, put Sunderland into a 16th-minute lead but a James Collins penalty in the 67th minute earned a point for Luton, who had Danny Hylton dismissed five minutes later.

Harford (left) has backed his team to shrug off the departure of former manager Nathan Jones, who has moved to Stoke. “I will try to galvanise the players,” he said.

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