Jack Ross on St Mirren return and Sunderland's pre-season progress

Ross guided St Mirren to the Scottish Championship last season before accepting the challenge of helping revive Sunderland’s fortunes.

He returns for the first time today and hopes to be celebrating a Sunderland win.

Sunderland’s pre-season started with a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Darlington and a 1-1 draw at Hartlepool United.

But Ross believes the hard work on the training pitches at the Academy of Light is starting to be reflected in an improvement in performances.

Tuesday night saw Sunderland beat Grimsby Town 1-0 and Ross believes St Mirren will be another step up in standard.

Ross said: “Every game I am enjoying more. Every game you go into you feel more prepared. The players have been very responsive and you are starting to see the fruits of that.

“Saturday is not about me, it is about us getting another game and seeing more improvement. It is nice to go back there and it will be nice to leave with a win.

“We have improved results as we have gone along, every game we have played has been a step up in standard and Saturday will be another step-up.

“It is a good progression for us and hopefully we will have potentially more numbers in by then to help us with the challenges.

“The players that are playing are getting better with every game.”