Former Middlesbrough midfielder opens up on his first trip to the Stadium of Light as Sunderland host Ipswich Town in League One

Lee Johnson’s side head into the game on Wearside on the back of three straight defeats in the league and face an Ipswich side who are beginning to find their feet this season having won three of their last five games.

The Tractor Boys saw a summer of upheaval under Paul Cook and they are now starting to show signs of promotion promise with the Portman Road side just four points off a play-off place.

And ahead of the Stadium of Light showdown this weekend, we round-up some of the things you might have missed on Wearside throughout the day.

Morsy: We must embrace it

Ipswich captain Sam Morsy has said his side must ‘embrace the occasion’ when the Tractor Boys visit the Stadium of Light this weekend.

Morsy was one of 19 summer signings at Portman Road having begun the season with the Black Cats’ North East rivals Middlesbrough in the Championship.

The decision from Boro to sell the 30-year-old midfielder raised some questions on Teesside with Morsy going straight into Cook’s side in East Anglia.

Morsy has made 11 appearances for the Tractor Boys since his arrival and is relishing the opportunity to go head to head with the Black Cats this weekend.

“I’m really looking forward to it. I've never played there before and I obviously didn't get the chance to play in a derby game against them for Middlesbrough,” he told the East Anglian Daily Times.

"We’ve just got to embrace the occasion and give it everything we’ve got. Hopefully that will be good enough on the day.

"Our fans will travel in their numbers again and hopefully we can make it another good away day for them.”

Morsy added on Johnson’s side: “You don’t have that sort of tremendous start to the season if you’re not a good team.

"They’ve got good players, a good manager and it's going to be a tough game. We're going to have to be at our best.”

After their trip to the Stadium of Light, Ipswich host another of their promotion rivals, Rotherham United, on Tuesday.

"We’ve got two tough games now, but if we can get into the play-off places at some point in December that would be brilliant. It’s all about momentum isn’t it?

“There will be teams higher than us who will have a spiral down and there will be teams below who are going to spiral up. We just have to make sure we stay on the up. It’s just one game at a time really.

“Rotherham will be another tough game but we seem to love the Tuesday nights don’t we? But we’ll get onto that one after the Sunderland game.”

Oldham clash confirmed

Sunderland’s second round Papa John’s Trophy tie with Oldham Athletic will take place on Wednesday, December 1 with kick-off at 7pm.

The Black Cats topped their group following a 1-1 draw with Bradford City and their quest to retain the trophy they won at Wembley Stadium in March will now run through to League Two Oldham at the Stadium of Light in the next round.

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