Jack Ross hails '˜outstanding' Sunderland support and reveals key role in promotion push

And Jack Ross believes a bouncing Stadium of Light is proving a key weapon in the fight for promotion.

Ross has praised the ‘outstanding’ Sunderland support both at home – which has seen an average attendance above 30,000 for League One games – and away, with the Black Cats taking 4,000 fans to Doncaster Rovers midweek.

Sunderland face Southend on the back of three straight wins and a six-game unbeaten spell.

“Obviously we want to continue winning games to achieve what we want to achieve this season but we also want to continue to create something that encourages more people to come and watch us,” said Ross.

“The numbers that follow us home and away have been remarkable, that consistency of the home crowd has been outstanding, there is the potential for that to get bigger, we all know that

“We want to keep pushing those boundaries and I can help do that by keep putting a team out there that reflects how they feel about the club and keeps producing big performances.

“They can also play a part in that, I have seen it, the last home game against Peterborough, the atmosphere in the stadium that night was really good, the noise when Jerome [Sinclair] scored the second goal.

“It reminded me how atmospheric the stadium can be.

“The more numbers, it is a benefit to us as we want to make it intimidating for opposition players to come to.”