Elliott Dickman has called for the character in his squad to come out ahead of Sunderland under-23s’ trip to Blackburn Rovers today, kick-off 12pm.
The development team experienced an afternoon to forget on Monday as they fell to a 5-3 defeat at Burnley in their penultimate Premier League Cup group match.
A rain soaked pitch at Edgeley Park left a soggy after taste in Dickman’s mouth as the young Black Cats’ frustrating run of form continued with just two wins from nine matches.
Speaking to safc.com, the under-23s lead coach insisted a response is essential from his players as they look to advance to the last 16 as Group B winners.
“If we dwell on the result at Burnley then Thursday is going to be tough,” he said.
“One of the good things about football is that there’s always another opportunity just around the corner.
“On this occasion that has come around very quickly so we just need to make sure we prepare the best we can.
“We have got a lot of learning and a lot of improving to do in a very short space of time because if we turn up and play like we have did against Burnley then it’s going to be another tough day.”
He continued: “When we don’t have the ball we need to be much tougher to break down than what we were at Burnley.”