Sunderland have right mentality as they build to Wolves clash

The coach’s U23 side are next in action at Wolves on Monday night in the last 32 of the Checkatrade Trophy.

They will go into the tie at Molineux on the back of a five-match unbeaten run spread across four competitions.

After four wins on the trot, the Black Cats had to settle for ‘only’ a point on Monday night when they were pegged back by Tottenham to a 2-2 draw in Premier League 2.

“Character is what we’ve got in abundance in this team,” said Welsh.

“Sometimes with the ball we defend resolutely and that’s a big plus we’ve had since I started with this team.

“They don’t like to lose matches and they always work their hardest to win them.

“The players did excellent to dig a point out of a tough match against Spurs.

“Tottenham were quick and were quality moving the ball.”

Sunderland should have taken all three points at Eppleton CW given they led 2-0 inside 40 minutes through George Honeyman and Adnan Januzaj.

But the fact the team dug in to take a draw after the Londoners had fought back with a Shilow Tracey double Welsh saw as a positive.

“I thought in the first half we played some good football at times and the two goals we scored were excellent,” said he said.

“Adnan’s goal was a terrific run and finish and he showed great pace and technique.

“The goal we scored from George Honeyman was excellent build up, a great switch and then a good finish.

“We conceded a sloppy goal just before half-time which we normally defend quite well and we let them straight back into the game.

“We didn’t start the second period particularly quickly but we grew into the it and we create one or two chances.

“It certainly wasn’t our best display but we’ve had some really tough nights.”