MATTHEWS CONFIDENT CATS CAN TAME WOLVES
A total of 21 teams and 33 points separate struggling Sunderland and Championship leaders Wolves. But Adam Matthews says the Black Cats head to Molineux on Saturday expecting to win.
Defeat to Reading left Sunderland second bottom and two points adrift of safety, Chris Coleman unable to break the home hoodoo in his first game in charge at the Stadium of Light.
It doesn’t get any easier with a difficult trip to face Nuno Espirito Santo’s inform Wolves side this weekend. Nuno’s side extended their lead over Cardiff City to four points with their Monday night victory over Birmingham City.
A quick look at the league table and you’d be forgiven for thinking the worst but Matthews says confidence levels remain high.
The right-back adamant that Sunderland have enough character to bounce back from the defeat to Reading and secure back-to-back away wins.
“We’re going there expecting to get the three points,” said Matthews.
“In the position we’re in most people will think it’s an easy game for Wolves but we know the character we’ve got in the changing room and going off the Burton performance and some of the Reading performance we’re confident we can get a result.
“They’re playing quite well at the minute. It will be a tough game but we’ve got to forget this performance and result very quickly and look forward to Saturday.”
Hopes had been high heading into the Reading game that Sunderland could build on the win at Burton and end the winless home run but another poor performance, coupled with Callum McManaman’s red card saw the Black Cats extend the streak to 21 games.
It had been hoped the Coleman factor, with the ex-Wales boss taking charge of a home game for the first time, would inspire a win but Sunderland’s bubble was burst by Jaap Stam’s side.
Matthews said: “A little bit but I don’t think anyone in the club got too carried away with the result at Burton last week.
“We’re still not in the position we want to be in. We were hoping to build on last week’s result but it hasn’t happened.
“Like the manager said in the changing room we’ve got to get over it quickly.”
One thing Sunderland can’t do, and something Coleman was keen to stress in the aftermath of his first game away at Aston Villa, is feel sorry for themselves.
Matthews is fully on board with the manager’s desire to see a positive mental attitude from his Sunderland squad.
“We feel like we’ve got a good squad here so I’m sure we can cope with injuries when they come along,” added the former Celtic defender.
“We want our luck to turn but it’s not about luck. We need to turn it ourselves, it’s not going to do it on its own.
“We’ve got to get this result out of our head and focus on the game on Saturday against Wolves.”