Sunderland boss on why he feels 'lucky' to manage at Stadium of Light and how it compares to Ibrox and Parkhead

Just shy of 30,000 fans witnessed Sunderland demolish Scunthorpe United in a devastating first half attacking display.

Max Power scored his first goal, powering home a header from Bryan Oviedo’s cross before Josh Maja added a second with a low, clinical finish - his third in three league games.

The impressive Chris Maguire added a third with a sublime flick to pile on the misery.

The attendance was 29,876 and Ross is pleased to be able to give supporters something back.

On the backing, Ross said: “It sounds very simple, but it’s of the utmost importance. If you don’t have it, it’s very difficult to progress.

“What this club has got is something powerful in that sense. I’m lucky I’m manager of a club that has 30,000 home fans behind us.

“That can work both ways, and it’s happened here at times and I’m sure it might happen again on occasions. But if we get it going in the right way, it’s brilliant.

“The responsibility falls on me to keep putting a team on the pitch that reflects that passion from the stands.

“It’s been nice to give that back in two very different games at home and two very enjoyable games for the supporters.”

He added: “One of the things I believed I could try to address straight away was how we play in this stadium and the results we get here.

“We hammer home the importance to the players of making this a place where opponents dread coming to.

“I’ve been there myself, when I’ve been to Ibrox and Parkhead as a player in Scotland, they were horrible at times to go to because you knew what you would face in terms of the standard of the opposition and the way they would play.

“If they started in that manner, you knew the crowd would get behind them. It was difficult, you almost feel like you can’t breathe. That’s what we need to do to teams here.

“We want to make it a place where teams will look at the results and think they don’t want to come here.”