Sunderland earned a much-needed win away at top six rivals Hull City yesterday.
Sunderland picked up their first win under new boss Michael Beale on Boxing Day, with the Black Cats winning 1-0 at Hull City thanks to a Jack Clarke goal in the second half.
The Sunderland talisman is now in 10 goals for the season and team are now back up into 6th place of the table; replacing Hull City in the top six with a huge win.
It comes after a 3-0 defeat kick-started the Beale era at the Stadium of Light last week.
And after the game yesterday, Beale praised his players’ ‘mentality’ to come back from that Coventry defeat and pick up a huge win against Hull.
Michael Beale praises Sunderland ‘mentality’
After the game, Beale spoke positively about his players reaction to the Coventry City defeat, saying:
“I feel the mentality of the group is absolutely fantastic. It was a tough day on Saturday [against Coventry], really tough day for everybody, the fans, the players and everyone. We’ve not had much time on the training pitch obviously, come here to a Hull team that are riding high in the league and doing well, and I thought we were excellent.”
Sunderland now sit in 6th place of the Championship table but are level on points with Hull in 7th, with just three points separating the Black Cats and Middlesbrough all the way down in 14th.
A typical Black Cats reaction
Throughout their modern history, Sunderland have faced setback after setback.
But they’ve often found a way to eventually come out on top and yesterday’s performance is symbolic of their impressive attitude and mentality, like Beale says.
Very few would’ve tipped the Black Cats to win at Hull given how impressive the Tigers have been so far, and how poor Sunderland were in their first game under Beale.
But this win will settle a lot of nerves and alleviate a lot of early, maybe unfair pressure on Beale who’s appointment remains a divisive one among many.
Rotherham United on Friday is another tough game for the club.
The Millers have also appointed a new coach in recent weeks with ex-Wigan Athletic boss Leam Richardson coming in, and overseeing a much-needed 1-0 win over Boro today.
The pressure will be on Sunderland to win this one and after yesterday’s hardened performance, the Black Cats should be confident of seeing out the year with another win on the road.