AFTER becoming the first Sunderland goalkeeper to save a penalty in open play on home turf in almost 30 years, Jon McLaughlin was willing to accept the praise but then explained how the greater aim is to make Sunderland “unstoppable” in League One.

The Black Cats remain firmly in the promotion picture having extended their unbeaten start to the season to seven league matches, even though they had to settle for a point at the Stadium of Light for the second weekend in a row.

The 1-1 draws with both Oxford and now Fleetwood Town did not go according to plan, as Sunderland fell behind early on and had to battle back in both to secure a draw; the games could have gone either way after the equalisers.

But Fleetwood, themselves in a top six spot after a strong start to the campaign under Joey Barton, were left to rue a missed Paddy Madden penalty shortly after half-time which would have given them the lead for a second time.

McLaughlin dived to his left to turn away Madden’s decent enough effort, and incredibly that was the first time a Sunderland goalkeeper has saved a penalty (excluding shoot-outs) at the Stadium of Light; in fact Tony Norman’s stop from Chelsea’s Graham Roberts in March 1989 at Roker Park was the last.

“We’ll take that,” said McLaughlin, signed from Hearts in the summer. “I feel a bit for Robbin Ruiter, only a couple of nights ago he saved a couple (against Stoke in a Checkatrade Trophy penalty shoot-out)! But obviously in a league game or in open play, that’s great.

“Like we said earlier, we’re not too concerned about personal goals or things like that. If it contributes to the bigger cause, helping us to stay in the game, although we certainly would have taken that away if it meant we got a winner.

“The important thing for us is trying to get those goals at the other end, but again there’s plenty for us to work on at our end to starting get those clean sheets.

“We haven’t managed to do that so far, we’ve only had the one, and for a club like this in this division, if we can nail that down then we know that at the other end of the pitch the lads will take care of business every single week. That’s our main drive at the moment.”

Jack Ross, the Sunderland manager, was quick to name the 30-year-old as his preferred choice between the sticks, even though he does have the experienced Dutchman Ruiter pushing him behind-the-scenes.

McLaughlin has been solid too, displaying strong handling since his arrival and he has also made his fair share of saves, even before preventing Madden from scoring Fleetwood’s second on Saturday.

But he does not want games to be as close as they are, particularly at home, knowing that was the fifth time this season that Sunderland have fallen behind. Even though they have prevented defeat in all of those, one day he knows they could slip up so eradicating the sloppy starts is important.

He said: “It’s been a positive start, but there’s plenty more to come from myself and all the players, and collectively. There wouldn’t be many clubs in this position in the league still knowing that there is so much more that we can put out there and so much better that we can get.

“There’s plenty for us still to work on and we’re certainly staying humble in this division. We know there’s so much work to do and that clubs have got quality players, are set up well, know how to play and of course come to our place willing to do everything to get that result.  “We’re under no illusions but we also know that if we can get the work right, then we should be unstoppable.”

There is an acceptance too among the Sunderland squad that whichever team visits Wearside this season, they are going to go up a gear because of the environment they are playing in.

There was a crowd of approaching 30,000 against for the Fleetwood match and, like Oxford the week earlier, that helped the visitors start positively as much as anything else.

McLaughlin said: “It’s inevitable. But when you're in these divisions and there is a club that’s out of place, such a huge club that you’ve never been able to play against at this level, it raises their game.  “No disrespect to anyone at all, but it’s different surroundings to what they’re used to. It’s a completely different size crowd, so that raises them and they want to put in their best performance on the big stage and show off what they can do.  “It makes things even more difficult because, not only are you going to face a tough enough test every week, there’s the added that they’re putting in everything they can for their best performance of the season.  “It means there’s no easy games, and that’s why the starts have been so difficult. Everyone comes out here wanting to impress on you from the start and see if they can ruffle your feathers and put in a shock result.”

But McLaughlin does think that Sunderland fans should not be worried about the sight of their team falling behind so often. Under Ross there is a new style of play and a completely different playing squad which is still in the growth stage, having underwent so many changes since relegation from the Championship.

He said: “It's great that we're a team that's shown we've got that grit and we don't just get rolled over if we go behind. We're not some fancy team that doesn't have that determination and can't dig in and grind out a result. Teams know we're never beaten.

“But there's never a good time to go behind and you never enjoy it. You're never satisfied with being a team that goes behind. The best thing you can do is get clean sheets and give yourself a platform all the time to only need a goal.

 “With a team like we've got, we back ourselves every time to score so if we're ruthless defensively we can see the results will start to flow every single week no matter what the opposition throw at us over 90 minutes, we'll back ourselves every time to break them down and get a goal.

“It would be a massive thing if we could start to put those complete defensive performances together.

“We've never thought, 'Well that's it, we're beaten.' We back ourselves every time to be the team that dominates over the course of a full 90 minutes.  “Regardless of what happens, we keep plugging away, keep to the gameplan knowing we're going to break them down. We're not panicking when we concede but we don’t ignore it. The sooner we cut it out, the better it will be for us.”