‘Sky is the limit’ on Wearside says Sunderland keeper

McLaughlin impressed again as the Black Cats cruised to a three goal victory over play-off chasing Southend United at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

The 31-year-old kept his third consecutive clean sheet to help secure three points that closed the gap on leaders Portsmouth in the League One promotion charge – and extended Sunderland’s unbeaten run to seven matches.

Goals from George Honeyman, Chris Maguire and Aiden McGeady did the damage to claim a fourth straight win, the first of those at home, and the feel-good factor around the place continues to grow.

McLaughlin celebrated back-to-back promotions with Burton Albion before joining Hearts last year, but he believes there is something different about the Sunderland revival and being involved in it will live long in the memory.

He said: “It’s starting to feel like it could be the pinnacle of my career, if you like. For a club of this size and stature, to feel at home and to be accepted by the fans and everyone at the club, and have that feeling is fantastic so early on.

“We have not achieved anything yet but the potential is there, anyone can see if we can keep this going, not just this season but for the next four or five seasons, you could be part of something massive, getting this club back to its rightful place. In your career you always want keep going in the right direction, to move forward. Hopefully it will aid the bigger cause. That’s the feeling. The sky is the limit here.”

McLaughlin was just one of a wave of signings during the summer as manager Jack Ross went about changing the face of the squad following back to back relegations from the Premier League.

Maguire, who scored the brilliant second early in the second half against the Shrimpers, is another of those and both highlight how playing Sunderland represents a huge opportunity for them, even if they have the talent to play at a higher level.

“It’s unfortunate that the club has had to go through this for us to get a chance at a club like this,” said McLaughlin. “This might have been out of reach for a lot of us, we have had to take advantage of the situation but now we are in it.

“It is huge, you have to take that opportunity you have been given and make the most of it.  “If you can get in on the ground floor of a club like this and ride your way back up then that could be a dream come true. Hopefully it is just the start of something bigger.”

Even though McLaughlin had looked the part earlier in the season, Sunderland had struggled to prevent teams from scoring against them.  That has changed in recent weeks after Ross successfully rectified the set-piece problem which had caused issues.

McLaughlin said: “You have to get over that initial period of change which we had. The staff, players, everyone, had to, and we got a decent start.  “To get it to click and gel like we have managed to is fantastic, now we are in a great position, we are in good place to kick on hopefully we can ride it to promotion and on to the next few seasons.”

Portsmouth’s failure to beat Accrington meant Sunderland climbed to within three points of the leaders, while Peterborough remain a point better off than Ross’ side after winning at Burton.

McLaughlin said: “You look at the table and you want to catch the teams above you but, on our statistics, points wise, our average for all of that is on form.  “We have to believe that if we keep doing what we can then others will falter. At the moment there are four or five sides managing to keep that momentum up.  “In the past the Wigans, Sheffield Uniteds, Blackburns have carried it on for a full season, whoever have managed to keep it up. We know we have the squad to cope over the winter months, we know we can keep doing it consistently.”

McLaughlin’s performances gained the reward of being called into the Scotland squad earlier this month for the internationals with Israel and Portugal. He was unused in the matches, though, because he is behind Craig Gordon and Allan McGregor in the pecking order.

All eyes will be on whether he is named in the Scotland squad to face Albania and Israel next month and then he admits that he might have a dilemma on his hands if it means missing a Sunderland match.  He said: “It’s difficult to balance because you know you don’t get the international breaks off in this division (if teams don’t have three call-ups). This is who pays the wages, where you know you have to do it on a daily basis.    “Of course, you want to go away and be involved for your country, but if you are not playing, being a supporting role, then there is a big decision to be made if you are missing key games at club level. We will see what happens but the main focus is to keep this going.”

While Sunderland march on, Southend boss Chris Powell was more disappointed by the outcome at the Stadium of Light.  The Shrimpers had a chance to climb into the top six if they had left the North-East with three points.

But Powell felt that a first half penalty claim that was waved away, when Sunderland were ahead, after Tom Flanagan wiped out Dru Yearwood, proved costly for his team.

Powell said: “We were certainly in the game in the beginning, disrupted by a bad injury but we got ourselves going again. I felt we took the game to Sunderland. We gave away a poor goal.

“I think the game-changing moment is the penalty incident with Dru Yearwood. That's a big, big moment in the game. The second goal's a hell of a strike. We created more chances and had more efforts on target.

“Honeyman, Maguire, McGeady get goals when they have the opportunities. McLaughlin made a couple of good saves but that's things we have to learn.  “If you've got the quality of McGeady coming on, but they're in League One, you have to believe … we knew exactly what we would come up against.

“We know the extent of this club and Jack is quietly trying to rebuild confidence in this football club and this area as well.”