Williams: ‘We must win one of these two’

SUNDERLAND face two massive home games in a matter of days and Jonny Williams says there are no excuses – they must win at least one.

Bristol City and Bolton Wanderers could both be coming to the Stadium of Light in good spirits.

The Black Cats are unbeaten in three matches but what has gone before means they have to beat at least one of their visitors, according to Wales midfielder Williams.

The Wearsiders have not triumphed at the Stadium of Light in any competition since December 17 and their last Championship victory came at Norwich City in early August.

It has left the three straight draws, all of which could have been won, with a hollow feel.

On-loan Williams said: “We have a great opportunity to kick on this week and there is no excuse if we don’t win at least one of these home games.

“We all know that and although we don’t want to build up too much pressure we just have to play like we know we can and be a bit harder to beat.

“Last weekend during the 3-3 draw at Brentford we showed we can score goals so hopefully we can put on a performance and build on three draws – because they could have easily been wins.

“We know what we are capable of and there are no doubts about our ability in the dressing room but we are not happy drawing games and we want to be winning.”

On Saturday, Leeds United ended the seventh-placed Robins’ 12-match unbeaten run - but they responded by beating Crystal Palace 4-1 in the League Cup on Tuesday.

Bolton are bottom of the table, and the best they can hope for ahead of Tuesday’s game against Sunderland is to be level on points with their hosts.

However, since ending a sevenmatch losing streak they have won one and drawn one - so they will travel north in good heart.

The Black Cats, though, can only worry about themselves and the injury-prone Williams is hoping to be back to help out.

He added: “I was gutted to miss the Brentford game and I did not think the hamstring niggle I picked up against QPR would keep me out - but it was a wise decision to focus on this weekend.”