Sunderland will be aiming for three points at the Stadium of Light tonight, but Robbie Stockdale has warned that it won’t be easy against Notts County.
The Black Cats resume their Checkatrade Trophy campaign knowing a point will be enough to ensure progression to round two of the competition is achieved.
Having clinched a hard-fought point in their opening match at Rochdale, Stockdale’s side followed that up with an impressive victory at Hartlepool United last month, courtesy of Donald Love’s second-half strike.
However, Stockdale has refused to settle for a draw and insisted victory will provide the perfect tonic as Sunderland’s young guns look to gauge where they are in their development against an experienced League Two outfit.
“We are expecting a really tough game because every game so far in the competition has been difficult for different reasons,” he said.
“It will be interesting to see how they come and set up at the Stadium and that will be a big plus for them to come and play here.
“It’s another great opportunity for our young players to test themselves against the senior players.
“We are looking forward to it and we are looking forward to progressing in the competition which was always the aim.
“The current test for our players in the building is to break them into our first team, but that can’t always be the case,” he continued.
“So we then look and see if we can get them a career in the game and playing League One and League Two teams is a great test for them to compare themselves to that standard which is still very high.”
