Jack Ross has urged his players to keep their foot firmly on the throttle as they look to make it three straight wins tonight.
Victory over Portsmouth on Saturday provided the perfect tonic in the league after frustrations soared following draws against Oxford United and Ipswich Town.
But Sunderland’s Carabao Cup win at Accrington Stanley relieved some of that tension, before goals from Jordan Willis and Chris Maguire saw the Lads dispatch Pompey to record their first league win of the campaign.
The Black Cats now head to the Crown Oil Arena in search of their third win in a row and speaking to the media on Monday Ross called for more of the same from his players.
“The players have been good, but understandably I think it’s impossible for them to be oblivious to some comments and to ignore them,” he said.
“I think for them it was nice to get the rewards for the work they’ve put in for me. I said that after the game Saturday. First half at Ipswich and maybe one or two other occasions, I can’t think of many where I felt they haven’t played the game in the right manner.
“When we do that, we always give ourselves a good chance of getting the rewards and we did that on Saturday.
“We travel on Tuesday with increased confidence.”
He continued: “It is still ridiculously early in the season and Kenny [Jackett] would have said the same if his side won on Saturday, in terms of how much it will affect the course of the season.
“But psychologically you can’t knock the fact that it was a team we competed so closely with last season, and who you look at squad-wise you’d imagine when things settle down, they’ll be up the top there with us.
“So it was a big boost for us, but it was only three points, like it would have been against any opponents, and it will only be a big three points if we can push on in our next games, starting on Tuesday night.”
