Sunderland’s start shows that last season’s play-off run was no fluke. According to Anthony Patterson, Sunderland have established themselves in the first ten games of the Championship season. The Black Cats made the play-offs in their first season back in the second division, but anyone wondering if they can duplicate that success and challenge again this season has already received their answer.
Goals from Niall Huggins and Abdoullah Ba handed the Wearsiders a 2-0 home victory over Watford in midweek, putting them in fourth place in the table after 10 games, ahead of Middlesbrough’s visit to the Stadium of Light tomorrow.
think at the start of the season we looked at the division and thought it was going to be tougher, but full credit to the lads and we’ve done really well and performed really well to put us where we are in the league,” said Patterson.
“Hopefully we can continue that now for the rest of the season. We look as good as anyone – even if you look at the defeats we’ve had, we’ve been the better team in almost every game, if not every game.
“It’s just a case of keep building, keep performing and I’m sure we’ll do well.”
The win against Watford came on the back of last Friday’s 3-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday, with those back-to-back victories the ideal response following Sunderland’s narrow home defeat against Cardiff City in the previous game when they dominated only to be hit by a late sucker-punch. Patterson said: “The Cardiff game was frustrating.
“If you look at the possession we had and the chances we created, on another day we could have won that comfortably two or three nil. Obviously that’s not how it worked out and they managed to nick one which was their whole gameplan really.”
Goalkeeper Patterson will also take pride in the clean sheets against Wednesday and Watford, although he is also quick to praise the back four of Dan Ballard, Luke O’Nien, Trai Hume, and Huggins. He said: “Yeah another clean sheet, obviously really pleased to come out with another clean sheet.
“I think the boys worked really hard in front of me and defended the goal really well tonight and gave us the platform to keep a clean sheet. If you look throughout the course of the season, really, I’ve been kept pretty quiet and the lads in front of me have done a great job.”
Sunderland will now play Boro in the penultimate game before the Championship is paused for the international break tomorrow. “The stadium will be packed for that one and it’s another big game and another game we’ll be looking to take three points from,” Patterson added.
“When it’s an international break, it’s always important to go in there with good momentum, having won the last game and having time to relax, sort of thing.” Recently, the games have been arriving thick and fast.”
In a fortnight, the Black Cats will begin their campaign against Alex Neil’s Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium.
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