Black Cats are starting to believe

PLAYERS THRIVING AS PROMOTION RACE HOTS UP, SAYS ROSS

SUNDERLAND are thriving in the pressure-cooker environment of the League One promotion race, according to manager Jack Ross.

With 13 games remaining the Black Cats are third in the table, two points behind second-placed Barnsley and seven behind leaders Luton Town - with a game in hand on both.

Ross said in November his Sunderland squad had the chance to achieve something ‘tangible’ this season by helping the club make an immediate return to the Championship.

With Sunderland still firmly in the promotion hunt with the finishing line just two months away, he believes his players have begun to scent success.

Ross, whose side hosts Plymouth Argyle today, said: “If you have a chance of being successful, for all players in any league it starts to become a reality at this stage.

“Way back in August, September, October, it seems a long way off whereas now we are into March and there are just two months of the season left and the players are in a position where they could achieve promotion.

“That sense of something becoming a reality grows the closer you are to the end of the season.

“It can go two ways – it can get to people or they can thrive on it.

“I have the sense this is a group which thrives on it.

“I think they are starting to enjoy it and they are looking at the situation and saying ‘yes, there is something here for us.’ That is very encouraging.”

Sunderland have lost only twice in the league all season – only Premier League leaders Liverpool have lost fewer games this term – but their campaign has not been all plain sailing.

They have drawn 14 games, seven of those draws coming in a nine-game run stretching from the end of December to mid-February.

However, back-to-back wins in their last two outings at home to Gillingham and then at Bristol Rovers appear to have put their promotion bid back on track.

Ross added: “Belief grows every time you win a game and they have the bit between their teeth now.”