Chris Maguire's pitch warning for Sunderland's trip to Gillingham '“ but says side have class to cope

The Black Cats produced a stunning attacking display on Sunday to demolish Scunthorpe United 3-0 at the Stadium of Light.

A vibrant Sunderland utilised every inch of their home pitch, which was widened in pre-season by Jack Ross as he looked to give his flair players more freedom and space.

Maguire was one of those to benefit from that, expertly flicking home Sunderland’s third goal in a rampant display, but the former Bury man knows they won’t always get that kind of space in League One.

Having played a couple of seasons in the division, the Scot has warned his team-mates what to expect tonight and on their travels elsewhere this season.

“I’ve been there myself, they’re not easy places to go,” he said. “The pitches will be a bit better as we’re going there early in the season, that might work to our benefit.

“They’ll try and make it tough for us the way Luton did, the pitch will be tight, Gillingham is tight.

“But it is us to go out and keep the momentum going. We’re confident in ourselves, we won’t go shouting about it but we know within ourselves that we’ve got the ability to go and do it.”

Maguire operated more centrally on Sunday as Ross switched to a 4-4-2 formation and says Sunderland have got the ability to change systems because of the quality of their players.

We’ve got great depth in the squad and we’ve got boys that no matter what formation we change to, they can go in and fill the role,” he added. “It was a great team performance at Scunthorpe.”