Michael Beale sets challenge for Sunderland dressing room after Hull City win

Michael Beale says he wants to see consistency from his Sunderland players after their excellent win at Hull City on Boxing Day.

Sunderland climbed back into the top six after securing Beale's first win as head coach, with Jack Clarke scoring a late winner. It was a strong response to the bitterly disappointing defeat against Coventry City, particularly defensively. Hull City saw a lot of the ball but created few chances.

Beale praised his players but says they cannot afford to get carried away and have to build on the performance at Rotherham United on Friday.

"I'm absolutely delighted with their mentality and character today, that is a big, big positive for me moving forward," Beale said.

"The big thing for me now, though, is that we need consistency. In the first half of the season we won ten, lost ten. So it's clear that we can beat anyone, but on an off-day anyone can beat us.

"The first game of the second half of the season, we've taken a really positive step but we must back it up at Rotherham. We have to recover now and how we prepare for it is really important. The inconsistency tells me that we can't get too high or too low. We had two really good results, two defeats, and then a really big result here. We've got two league games and then we can take a deep breath - it's important we keep going and the recovery is crucial, this is the point where all the staff around the team go to work."

Sunderland are likely to be without Bradley Dack for the trip due to a hamstring problem.