The Black Cats will see out the League One season against Southend before contesting the playoffs.
Sunderland manager Jack Ross has spoken ahead of his side’s final regular match of the League One season this weekend as the Black Cats head to Southend United.
The Scot also cast an eye at the upcoming playoffs, with the Wearside club missing out on the top two after a poor run of form culminated in Luton Town and Barnsley sealing off the automatic promotion places.
Sunderland’s trip to Fleetwood Town in midweek ended in a frustrating 2-1 defeat as Lee Cattermole gave the visitors the lead but Paddy Madden equalised and Ashley Eastham grabbed the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
The result in Lancashire officially spelled the end of the Black Cats’ top two hopes, and form-wise things aren’t good for the team, now without a win in their last three and having recorded just one victory in their last six games.
“It’s not good enough,” Ross told the official Sunderland website ahead of Saturday’s game. “We can’t keep having spells in games and creating opportunities but not taking them. We can’t get ourselves ahead in games and not capitalise on that.
“The group of players who travel with us to Southend United better be at it. We are going to have some big games coming up and if we win them, we achieve promotion. That’s the simple reality. There will be no shortage of motivation for every single one of them on Saturday.”
Sunderland’s Twitter account shared the article containing Ross’s quotes, using the “big games coming up” quote as a caption, but given the frustration around the Stadium of Light fanbase, it’s little surprise that they didn’t go down too well:
Portsmouth, Charlton Athletic and one of Doncaster Rovers and Peterborough United will also be contesting the playoffs.
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