Jack Ross has called for a stable mindset as Sunderland’s promotion charge cranks up a notch at Bristol Rovers this weekend.
The Black Cats head to the Memorial Stadium on Saturday, kick-off 3pm, hoping for their second-straight league win after a frustrating run of three draws.
The feeling of delight was palpable around the Stadium of Light on Tuesday evening as the Lads secured a 4-2 win over Gillingham, with Will Grigg importantly on the scoresheet to open his goalscoring account.
But as focus now switches to the next hurdle in Sunderland’s promotion bid, Ross has admitted consistency in performance, mood and attitude must be maintained if the Lads are going to successfully rise to the challenge and deal with the pressure that increases at this stage of the season.
“I suppose the bulk of a managerial career is either avoiding relegation or trying to achieve promotion, I’ve never really had any spells in between,” he said. “So, that’s good in one way because I’ve pretty much dealt with constant pressure.
“I’ve spoken about the fact that when you’re Sunderland manager, you live with pressure every day anyway.
“I do think that it’s probably just a consistency in behaviour. During any period when you come under pressure to either achieve or avoid failure, you’ve got to maintain a pretty consistent approach to ensure that you shield your players from going too high or too low.
“Undoubtedly, between now and the end of the season, we’re going to have some high points and we may have a couple of low points as well. So, it’s important that the emotions they feel, they’re going to feel them, but it’s important that we bring them back to that middle ground as quickly as we can.
“I would say probably the benefit of managing in general helps you during what we’re going to face in the next few months.”