'No middle-ground': Alex Neil's message as Sunderland face up to Sheffield Wednesday test

Alex Neil has urged his players to keep building the feel-good factor on Wearside as they face up to the sternest test of their promotion credentials yet.
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Sunderland face Sheffield Wednesday on Monday night with a slender 1-0 advantage thanks to Ross Stewart's goal at the Stadium of Light on Friday.

A crowd of almost 45,000 packed out the ground to watch that win in an electric atmosphere, an indication of the progress Neil's side have made in recent times.

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Neil insisted on Sunday morning though that the work is far from done, and said his players understood that just as well.

Sunderland boss Alex NeilSunderland boss Alex Neil
Sunderland boss Alex Neil

"It's based on success," Neil said of the growing excitement.

"What we've got to do is deliver on the pitch and when you do that, everything that comes with that is a by-product of that, people want to come and watch and be part of it.

"People believing in the team, the city buying into the team, it goes hand-in-hand.

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"What I did say when I first walked through the door was that we needed to give the fans something to shout about. If we do that, they'll back us.

"People always say, should we always support the team even if they're not doing it? What comes first? I always think it's on us to be the catalyst. It starts with us.

"We need to get people excited because it's an entertainment business. I know some people will come back there by the way and say 'well sometimes it's not very entertaining', and I get that. But equally it's my job to win.

"Sometimes you do need to be a bit of a pragmatist, because you can play really nice football but if you sit thirteenth in the league you don't get that on Friday night. You don't get to these big matches, ones that really mean something.

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"We're in a really good place at the moment but the difficulty with the play-offs is, there is only one outcome.

"You're either going to be a hero, or you're going to be hopeless. There's no in-between. If we don't win, then it's not going to look good for us, is it?

"In these games there's no middle-ground, no silver medal. That's where we are."

Sunderland face a major test of their credentials at a sold-out Hillsborough, where they will backed by their allocation of 2,000 fans.

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It will be a rare game where the Sunderland support is significantly outnumbered but Neil is confident his players will stand up to the pressure.

He is likely to again lean on his experienced core of players who impressed in the home leg on Friday night.

"We know it's going to be a very different game to Friday," Neil said.

"We spoke about the atmosphere at home and I think sometimes a bit of experience throughout your team helps deal with that.

"It's probably doubly as important for this game.

"The majority of the stadium is going to be against us but I think, strangely as a player you look forward to that.

"Our fans will back us and we'll do our utmost to get the result for them."