Jack Ross has backed his players to overcome the pressure of the run-in with just five games to go.
- #FIREUPOURCITY: Sunderland v Doncaster Rovers tickets on sale
- Team news: The King is back!
- Family fun day at the SOL
Sunderland are back in Sky Bet League One action tomorrow as they face Doncaster Rovers at the Stadium of Light, kick-off 5:15pm.
Searching for a crucial three points after a draw and a defeat in their last two, Ross knows the significance of the Lads’ Easter fixtures as they face two of the league’s in-form sides.
Rovers head to the Stadium of Light having won their last four games while Peterborough United on Monday host Sunderland on the back of a three-game winning run.
And with both sides going at it for a play-off spot, Ross knows the pressure will be on his players if they are to achieve their own goal of promotion this season.
"You have a frustration and Saturday took a lot of you emotionally in terms of the disappointment you feel as you have a lot of pride in what you do, and the run we were on, but if you're involved in professional sport at an elite level you're going to have bumps in the road along the way," he said.
I've spoken a lot about consistency and my behaviours and actions don't really change, it's just making sure the players follow in that same way, and I think they have done this season.
We're looking forward to Friday now - it's great when you have that opportunity to get back out on to the pitch and try to put a defeat right."
“We've had to deal with the pressure all season because of the cup runs, so we've been used to it in that sense,” he continued.
“I must admit for me as a manager I've enjoyed this week because I've been on the training pitch properly.
“We've hardly training recently, so we've had a good week's training and I've been back to actually working with the players on the training pitch.
“There's a certain amount of escapism for manager in that you're out doing what you enjoy the most, and then there's the obvious benefit when you've able to work more easily on things you can't when you don't have time on the training pitch.
“So, we've got as much as we can out of this week, because post Peterborough is a short week before Portsmouth and we don't really have any free weeks before the end of the season.”