LOSING to Championship opposition on Thursday night was hardly a disaster, but Jack Ross wants to use tomorrow’s home game with Scunthorpe United to ensure that the Stadium of Light does not regain its reputation for being a ground where opposition sides tend to prosper.

This time last season, Sunderland were in the process of going an entire calendar year without recording a home victory. Turning the Stadium of Light into a fortress was one of Jack Ross’ key priorities when he took over on Wearside at the start of the summer, and an opening-day win over Charlton Athletic was an ideal way to start the new regime.

This week’s Carabao Cup defeat to Sheffield Wednesday provided Ross with his first competitive defeat, but a youthful Sunderland side were always going to be up against it as they took on an Owls side boasting seasoned campaigners such as Barry Bannan, Steven Fletcher and Adam Reach.

Nevertheless, Ross does not want a losing mentality to seep back in, and sees tomorrow’s game with Scunthorpe as an ideal opportunity to draw an immediate line under Thursday’s reverse.

“I wasn’t too bothered about the competition on Thursday night, it was more an opportunity to try to keep momentum going,” said Ross. “It was a home game, and we wanted to try to keep that momentum that we’d built up through pre-season.

“Now, maybe you can flip that, and say, ‘Okay, well now it’s about league form here’. Ultimately, that’s the most important thing for us.

“I said in the very early days that we need to make this an unbelievably difficult place to come to in the league. If we play in the manner we have so far, then I don’t think opposition teams will enjoy coming to us because they’ll spend a lot of time without the ball and they’ll be shifted around.

“Looking at how we played on Thursday, then if we produce that type of performance at this stadium in league games, we’ll give teams hard matches here.

“That was a Championship team and, particularly in the first half, I thought we were really good. I said that if we play like that, and keep trusting ourselves to move the ball in that manner, then in league games we’ll do really well here.”

Adam Matthews and Glen Loovens will return to the back four to face Scunthorpe after they were rested in the week, with Bryan Oviedo, Bali Mumba and Lynden Gooch also expected to return to the starting side.

Ross is also hoping Dylan McGeouch will be available to make his competitive debut after he was able to step up his training programme in the last few days.

“Dylan is getting ever closer, and he may be available for Sunday,” he said. “I’ve said that before, but this is the most encouraged I’ve been.”

Sunderland (probable, 4-3-3): McLaughlin; Matthews, Loovens, Baldwin, Oviedo; Honeyman, Mumba, Power; Maguire, Maja, Gooch.