Michael Beale has issued a challenge to Sunderland after they brilliantly came back to beat Plymouth 3-1 to move back into the playoffs.
Despite going into half-time 1-0 down, the Stadium of Light oversaw a great second-half comeback from the Black Cats to reclaim their spot in the top six.
Multiple players produced fantastic performances as Pierre Ekwah, Jack Clarke and Jobe Bellingham all produced moments of brilliance to turn the game on its head.
While it may have been an expected victory for the hosts, Beale’s side was threatening throughout and could have won by more in the end. The manager was also thrilled with the performance, as his side came out in the second half in style.
Now, after overseeing seven points from a possible nine and back-to-back home wins, Beale has issued his side a challenge as they go into an important part of the campaign.
Michael Beale wants Sunderland to be “ruthless”
Since coming into the club, Beale’s Sunderland has been far from consistent. However, over recent weeks his side only seems to be getting better.
The victory over Plymouth was arguably the clubs most complete performance yet under the manager with the visitors unable to lay a glove on the Black Cats in the second half.
Now, in the aftermath of the victory, Beale wants his side to be ruthless in their upcoming matches to ensure they have the best possible chance of finishes in the playoffs.
Speaking to Sunderland he said: “We need to be relentless, that is what the league is. We need to match that now, we need to recover with a good performance on Wednesday away from home. We know the fans will travel and get behind us.
“We need to keep putting performances in a getting results that make them them proud. It is going to be an exciting run until the end of the season, but we need to go on a consistent run of wins to get where we want to get to at the end of the season.”
Sunderland need to follow Plymouth result up with another victory
The Plymouth game was a key example of the quality Sunderland possess. Each of the goals that the hosts scored was a great piece of individual brilliance to get past a stubborn Plymouth side.
However, the result could well be in vein if they do not follow it up with another win against Huddersfield on Wednesday. With multiple teams around them having games in hand, each and every victory is a precious one for the Black Cats.
Beale is now hopeful that Sunderland can take their home form into the next two fixtures and continue to be a “really hard team to play against”.
“Our home form is going to be really important to us in the run in”, Beale added. “To score six goals in the last two home games. I thought the three goals were fantastic today. Lets be honest, we weren’t good in the first-half. We had our moments but, in general, there were too many errors, our energy wasn’t good, our pressing wasn’t good.
“We had a really honest chat at half-time and you saw in the second half a much improved performance. Then we have to keep our standards, and in a 15/20 minute spell, we get the goals. When we are playing like that, we are a really hard team to play against.”