AFTER watching Sunderland claim a third consecutive win in a row on the road, manager Jack Ross thinks his players are growing in the belief that they can go all the way in the League One promotion race.

The Black Cats secured three points courtesy of a 1-0 win at Doncaster Rovers, where Chris Maguire’s close-range strike at the start of the second half proved the difference.

It was a win watched by almost 4,000 travelling Sunderland fans and followed triumphs at Shrewsbury Town and Bradford.

The three results have lifted Ross’ side to within a point of second-placed Peterborough United and five off leaders Portsmouth ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Southend United.

Sunderland also have a game in hand on the two teams above them.

And after a summer of huge change at the Stadium of Light, Ross feels that the squad he has at his disposal is getting stronger and stronger with every performance and positive result as they learn to deal with being the division’s big guns.

Ross said: “There is a growing sense in the dressing room, we have spoken before about making sure that winning League One is one of the most important things you do in your career.

“There might be players in there who achieve more than that in their career but for the here and now that has to be the case.

“I now think I have a group of players who enjoy winning, enjoy the challenges of every game away game and they are loving winning games. I think you can see that from every supporter too, they appreciate that.

“People are always looking at us to see how we respond to each different venue we come to. I have mentioned about the atmosphere, generated by our supporters when we go to places, it’s brilliant but lends itself to the opposition stepping it up too.

“These were a good side but to come away with three away wins from consecutive away games is testament to the group.”

Sunderland could have climbed into the top two had Peterborough not beaten Fleetwood at London Road on the same night. Ross isn’t concerned about that.

He said: “The tracker in terms of where we need to be is points wise, that’s what concerns me more at the moment. The table will only concern me after the last game.

“We are in a good place, to lose only one in 14 games is good. We keep banging these good results out.

“I don’t think anyone will be concerned about the table yet, there is a belief we will get there. If they keep doing the things they are doing they will get there.”

He added: “Any successful team, the very best teams, they won’t remember the flashier performances, it will be the grittier ones.

“The reality is, there will be more of these performances along the way if we want to win the title.

“There have been times when we have not been that good but we have still got results. That belief is growing in there and when you have that mentality you do everything to not get beaten. This was a tough game and we got through it.”

Sunderland’s success was achieved without leading scorer Josh Maja, who was left behind on Wearside to allow the ankle niggle he is carrying to have some extra recovery time.

Ross explained: “His injury hasn’t recovered like we had hoped. We had a late decision to make and we decided to leave him out and we showed the strength of the squad to be able to leave him out and win.

“I would be hopeful he will be fine. It is not a major injury. I would like to think we would be in the squad on Saturday at least.

“I wanted to be sensible, he wasn’t comfortable with it. I was confident we had the squad tonight to be able to deal with it and we did.”