SIMON GRAYSON will not change his outlook as Sunderland boss, even if the pressure continues to mount beyond this international break.

Grayson watched the Black Cats appease the fans’ growing frustrations on Saturday by turning in a battling display to earn a point against Preston.

And while the draw did not end the run of nine matches without a win in the Championship, it did prevent a seventh defeat during that time.

Now Grayson knows he needs to work hard over the next ten days to try to build on the slight boost in morale that the result at Deepdale secured.

And he has been determined to retain his own positivity throughout the poor sequence of results, even though he knows it has been hard to lift a club still in the doldrums following years of struggle in the Premier League.

He said: “We are all under pressure. The biggest pressure is what you put on yourself, I hate losing any matches. I hate going on a losing run like we were on.

“That’s the pressure you are under. It’s what you try to do in the future that counts. I am no different now to when I came to the training ground on the first day.

“I am full of enthusiasm, thinking I am going to do a good job on that daily basis and I know I am a good manager who can deliver good results to this football club.”

Grayson’s task is a huge one. Sunderland are already two points adrift of safety sitting in the Championship’s bottom three, during a season when he had hoped to guide them to a top half finish despite the cash flow problems.

He has been helped by the return of Duncan Watmore to fitness and the international break should help the forward to build up his fitness further ahead of the visit of QPR a week on Saturday.