JACK ROSS was happy to welcome the international break for his Sunderland squad, but now he knows his team are having to play catch-up after falling further behind the in the Championship’s promotion race.

In having more than three of his players called up for their respective countries, the Black Cats got last weekend off from League One duty while the rest of the games took place.

That allowed Portsmouth, Peterborough, Barnsley and Doncaster – the four teams above them – to go out and record victories; while the rest was nice it could also have knocked the flow in Sunderland’s pursuit of the top two.

Now Sunderland know they can’t really afford to slip up at Shrewsbury Town on Saturday afternoon, when another sell-out away following will be hoping for a repeat of the sort of display that earned a spirited three points at Bradford City a fortnight ago.

Ross said: “There’s two sides to look it, we were in a decent vein of form, we had started to build momentum so we didn’t really want that break, but equally we would be without important players.

“It has been fairly demanding for the players since pre-season, everything that has gone on, the intensity, it was an opportunity to have a breather.

“We don’t want a backlog of fixtures though so don’t want too many of them.

“All the other teams got good results last Saturday, but we know if we continue in the manner of performance we have been then hopefully we can progress upwards as well.

“The difference with internationals these days is that the games are spread over a number of days.

“We had Jon McLaughlin who was first back because Scotland played on Sunday. Tom Flanagan only joined us on Thursday because Northern Ireland played Tuesday night.

“Then we had Bryan Oviedo who only arrived Thursday, even though he is obviously suspended. But the ones I have seen are healthy and ready to go again.

“I include Bali Mumba and Benji Kimpioka in that too, they have been back training (after England and Sweden Under-18 appearances). It has been fragmented in terms of numbers for training but we have everyone around again now.”

The nature of the Football League schedule means that Sunderland have already played 12 games by mid-October in the league, while they have also had to cram in EFL Cup dates and Checkatrade Trophy fixtures.

After this weekend’s trip to Shrewsbury, Sunderland will head for Doncaster in what is shaping up to be a real promotion tester for both clubs on Tuesday.

Having had a free weekend while all the other sides were in action, Ross will be hoping the rest has done everyone good and that Sunderland can find top gear quickly.

The former St Mirren boss said: “We had time off over the weekend, then this week it has been normal week.

“We were a bit heavier on the load at the start of the week. We did that because we have a busy schedule coming up, midweek games means training time is cut short.

“You don’t get as much time on the training ground in this league and that is something I have to get used to.

“We have used this break to get a couple of really good sessions in and then given them a bit of rest. The players have come back in and they have been bang at it.

“I have got to spend some time with my wife and kids too. The wife and kids are here, they’re loving it, enjoying it, which is great from my perspective. I love this job and I want everyone to be happy here.

“The fact I love it makes it easier, especially in the lovely weather like we have had the last few days. It’s been a nice couple of weeks and now we just have to make sure we are ready for Shrewsbury match.”