Elliott Dickman is looking forward to returning to more familiar surroundings this weekend with Sunderland under-23s.
The Black Cats face West Ham United at Eppleton Colliery Welfare on Sunday, kick-off 12pm, in what will be their first Premier League 2 home match since their opening fixture against Tottenham Hotspur.
Pleasing points at Chelsea and Manchester City in recent games have provided the lads with solid foundations to build on, after defeats to Derby County and Liverpool.
And speaking to safc.com, Dickman is hoping his players can pick up where they left off at the Etihad last weekend as they go in search of their second league win of the season.
“We seem to have been on the bus quite a bit and we have had some long journeys,” he said.
“It will be nice to play at home once again. The lads enjoy playing at Eppleton and we get a good support there which is always nice.
“We are looking forward to having a home game on the back of two decent performances in the league.
“Hopefully we can take that momentum into what will be a tough game on Sunday.
“It is also important we don’t underestimate what they have in their building,” he continued.
“They have taken some lads from Chelsea’s academy and the quality of players West Ham have on offer is good.
“It won’t be an easy game but our aim is to build on the momentum and the performances from our last two games.
“Of course, we want to try to take full points on Sunday but we have got to earn the right.”