Jack Ross says he will be under pressure regardless of whether Sunderland go up or stay down this season, but he is confident his players will shake off the disappointment that put that in the balance.
Easter Monday’s dramatic 1-1 draw with Peterborough United has left the Black Cats two points behind Saturday’s visitors Portsmouth and four behind Barnsley with a game in hand on the Tykes, but not Pompey. With the season finishing a week on Saturday, time is running out.
There are heavy expectations from some quarters that Ross should take his team back up to the Championship, but getting there will not ease those pressures, just change them, he says.
“There’s pressures on the club to build but I would imagine there are pressures on building something to be competitive in the Championship too because it’s a monster of a league now,” he commented. “The finances probably required to compete at that level alter as well.
“There are a lot of positives (from promotion) in terms of the obvious football side but a lot of challenges as well because the club was – not starting again, that sounds a bit dramatic – but not in a great place over the summer.
“Stewart (Donald, the chairman) will say to me he doesn’t think he has the pressures I have because he stays in Oxford but I don’t have the financial responsibilities he has.”
If Sunderland do not pick up enough points against Portsmouth, Fleetwood Town and Southend United to secure a top-two finish, there is the safety net of the play-offs. They are keen not to use it.
It makes Saturday’s game hugely important, but Ross is not concerned Matt Godden’s 92nd-minute goal, cancelling out what Sunderland thought was Max Power’s winner, will derail his side mentally.
“I’ve not been worried about that from them for a long time,” the Scot insisted. “We’ve not really had that many setbacks but whenever they’ve had one they’ve been good.
“The circumstances around (Monday’s) game and the stage of the season make it (the disappointment) more acute, but I think it was one of our better away performances this season against a team challenging for the play-offs.
“They know that at times I’ve been fairly protective of them but there’s maybe been some away games where we haven’t played as well as we could and scraped a draw but Monday wasn’t the case.”
