Luke O'Nien delivers Sunderland momentum verdict and has clear play-off message fans will love

Luke O'Nien says Sunderland will be taking plenty of momentum going into the play-offs and is confident they will finish the campaign with positive results.

The Black Cats have lost back-to-back games but produced a spirited performance at Bristol City, losing 2-1 but playing for over 80 minutes with more than ten men. O'Nien says Sunderland will be confident whoever they face next month and said the resilience they showed at Ashton Gate demonstrates why they'll be going into the play-offs in a good place.

"We’ve got no fears about anyone," O'Nien said.

"We’re confident going into any game and any team the play-offs throw our way, we will focus really hard on what we’ve got to do and give the best version of ourselves.

"I’m proud of the lads because we’ve built up a reputation where we go into every game expecting to win. Now we’ve built up an expectation and at the start of the season I’d have snapped off your hand for this feeling we’ve got and when we don’t win we’re really disappointed.

"We’ve created that through a lot of hard work and now we’ve got to back it up with the wins we know we are good enough to go out and get. Momentum comes in different ways. You can look at it in black and white terms of wins, but you can look at Eli’s goal and the way we defended with ten men which was very good.

"If you look at the season as a whole there is momentum right there because of the feeling we’ve developed in the group. We’re a confident bunch and after games we always look at exactly where we need to do better."

Luke O'Nien's verdict on Trai Hume red and Bristol City defeat

O'Nien said he apologised to Trai Hume for his part in the defender's red card but said the team could take positives from the game heading into Blackburn's visit to the Stadium of Light on Monday.

"I was disappointed because I should have done better to help Trai out," he said.

"I didn’t think it was a red, simple as that but the ref’s given it. We gave him a decision to make and I apologised to Trai. We’re proud of the lads for the performance they put in and we’ll go into the next game with more confidence and try to do better.

"Every single game, win, lose or draw, is a good learning exercise for us. That’s the reason we’ve been successful this season. Whatever the outcome we’ve looked at where we can get better.

"We don’t get caught up in the results even when we’re winning – we always fall back on the same processes that are in place and that’s why we’ve done well this season. I’m very proud of the lads. Going down to ten we knew what we needed to do. Out of possession we are very well organised. We’re very tight and we had to be even more so when we were down to 10.

"It was a worldie from their centre-half and then a deflected goal which felt like a sucker-punch. Apart from that it felt good because it was a really good test going into the last few games with the play-offs coming up.

"It was again a game where we just had to keep on doing whatever we’ve doing all season, even more so today and we’ll do the same on Monday."

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