MICK McCARTHY is preparing for the final turbulent leg of Sunderland's promotion journey by getting back on the wagon.

With less than a quarter of the season left, the Black Cats face a couple of potential derailments at Burnley and Crewe Alexandra before a roller-coaster of a month against Ipswich, Wigan, Reading and West Ham in April.

Such a nerve-jangling programme would be enough to drive the most abstinent man to the bottle, but not McCarthy, who takes his team to Turf Moor tonight.

The Black Cats' boss revealed he has gone tee-total during Lent, which is just as well given he will need a clear head for the far from sobering clashes ahead.

It is not the first time the Sunderland boss has sacrificed his love of a pint for the religious period, but he admitted in the past it rarely lasted a day.

McCarthy's abstinence, however, is in its 20th day - he only has a further 20 to go.

"I'm still off the gargle and I feel quite good," admitted McCarthy. "I haven't had a drink since Shrove Tuesday, which was February 8. I did it for Lent. I used to try and give up chocolate and stuff like that. But I feel great."

McCarthy didn't deny that should Sunderland win promotion this season he could be tempted to have a celebration tipple, but admitted it wouldn't be champagne.

He said: "I don't do champagne, I prefer a pint. I can more than celebrate and commiserate on pints.

"I tried giving it up some years ago on Shrove Tuesday, but by Ash Wednesday something had happened and I had a bottle of beer."

McCarthy did want to make it clear, however, that Lent and health alone are the only reasons he gave up the demon drink.

"I did it for health more than anything," he admitted. "I'm no religious fanatic. I'm not fanatical about anything other than football. But it doesn't do me any harm for health reasons that's for sure.

"I haven't taken the pledge and I'm not having midnight visits to Alcoholics Anonymous.

"If I was, I would just come out and say it because it would make it a lot easier wouldn't it? If everyone knew I shouldn't be drinking they would be saying you shouldn't be drinking every time I went in a pub.

"But I did it last year and I felt brilliant and slept brilliantly so I thought I would do it again. You should try it."

Sunderland will go clear at the top of the Coca Cola Championship for the first time this season if they avoid defeat at Burnley tonight, with promotion rivals Wigan and Ipswich playing each other at the JJB Stadium tomorrow.

The Sunderland boss admitted he was delighted to hear they had finally gained ground on the top two after spending most of the campaign on their coat tails, but warned his side of two potential banana skins facing them in the shape of Burnley and Crewe.

McCarthy said: "It's in our hands now, if we win every game there's nothing anyone can do about it. That's always been the case, to be honest. I didn't think for one minute, even when we were six points behind Ipswich, they were going to win every game.

"The message I was putting out last week was that it wasn't over or cut and dried because we lost at Brighton.

"Joe Royle was six points clear last week and they were delighted. This week they're third, which is an unbelievable turnaround. So we're not getting carried away because that could change again and any one of us could slip outside of the top two."

McCarthy hailed the response from his players following the defeat on the south coast and was curious to know how their rivals will respond to their recent setbacks

"The players have been terrific and I'm full of admiration for them," he said. "The good thing to come out of the Brighton game wasn't the result or the performance, it was the response.

"We've had two really good performances against teams we would expect to win against in normal circumstances. It will be interesting to see the response of Ipswich and Wigan."

With Stephen Wright serving the last game of his two-match ban and Mark Lynch out with a dislocated knee, Dean Whitehead is set to play at right back.

Liam Lawrence or Sean Thornton could play on the right side of midfield in his place, and Andy Welsh is ready to fill in for Julio Arca once again should Arca not recover from a hip injury. Chris Brown is also on hand if Stephen Elliott fails to recover from a groin strain.

Burnley will hand Ade Akinbiyi his debut, but there is no place for John Oster, the former Sunderland player who cannot play as part of the deal that took him to Turf Moor.

Read more about Sunderland here.