ROSS: WE’LL PARK WEMBLEY FOR NOW
MANAGER Jack Ross has insisted Sunderland won’t let reaching Wembley cause them to take their eye off the ball in their main pursuit – winning promotion to the Championship.
The Black Cats booked their place in the Checkatrade Trophy final against Portsmouth with a solid 2-0 victory at fellow League One outfit Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night.
Will Grigg fired the visitors ahead a minute before the break and Lewis Morgan pounced two minutes into the second half to give them breathing space.
The north-east side have been handed almost 40,000 tickets for the attractive final against fellow League One promotion-challengers Portsmouth at Wembley on Sunday, March 31, but Ross doesn’t want it to deflect them from their main goal.
Desperate
After back-to-back relegations, Sunderland are desperate to get back to the second tier at the first attempt. The former St Mirren boss said: “Leading the club out in a final will be fantastic but it won’t distract us from getting back to the Championship, where we should be.
“It’s not very often that you get the chance to play at Wembley in a cup final, but we have a lot of league games before it, so we will park it for now.”
Sunderland were favourites to win at relegation-haunted Bristol Rovers, but Ross was wary of the Pirates’ threat. In the event, he needn’t have been as his side repeated their 2-0 success in League One ten days before.
“It was a difficult match,” he said. “It was a one-off game and the incentive was the same for both sides. Defensively, we were very strong and we always look like we will score goals. We scored the goals at important times.”
Following yesterday’s match at Wycombe, Sunderland face a massive game at promotion rivals Barnsley on Tuesday night. The Black Cats then host Walsall (March 16) and visit Joey Barton’s Fleetwood (March 23) before their Wembley date.
“The players are pleased and satisfied, but I don’t think they will be delighted until they have won the competition,” added Ross.