If people want to build Sunderland’s third League One match of the season into a big one, manager Jack Ross will have no complaints.
Too often the pressure and expectations on the Black Cats are out of kilter with reality, but Ross thinks matches like the one he expects against Portsmouth on Saturday bring the best out of his players.
Just three points separated the division’s best-supported sides last season, the former Premier League clubs each winning one of their five meetings. That rivalry has attracted the live Sky Sports cameras to the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
“Both squads have changed (since last season),” said Ross. “Portsmouth have recruited and lost players.
“But there is a continuation about what the teams will want to do, there will be few surprises given how late it was we played them last season. There was an edge, they were enjoyable games, and I am looking forward to that again.
“They are a team who will up in that top part of the table. The players have tended to respond well during my time here to games like that. We will look to replicate that.”
Portsmouth won the December league game at Fratton Park in December, capitalising on a red card for Sunderland centre-back Glen Loovens. They lifted the Football League Trophy at Wembley in March after a penalty shoot-out.
The sides drew at the Stadium of Light in April, but the Black Cats won the Wearside play-off encounter and closed out the two-legged tie with a goalless draw on the south coast, only to lose the final.
That disappointment ramped up the pressure on Ross and his players, and although the club has made an unbeaten start to the league campaign, two draws and the disappointed performances that accompanied them have added to the frustration. Now they must build on Tuesday’s encouraging 3-1 League Cup win at Accrington Stanley.
“We want to win on Saturday because we know we have to win regularly, particularly at home,” said Ross. “Every game should have the same significance.
“Pressure is omnipresent. You are either going to be broad shouldered and deal with it.”
