GENERALLY speaking, a first vs second clash always carries much more significance towards the back end of the season. However, there seems to be a lot of intrigue in tomorrow’s League One tie between first placed Sunderland and second placed Accrington Stanley.

Both sides are on equal points but Stanley trail behind on goal difference and have played one more game than the Black Cats. Perhaps that’s a compliment to the start they’ve had.

Six wins from seven so far have vindicated the bookmakers tips to make Sunderland the promotion favourites so far but they could be in for their sternest test yet against an Accrington side that have continually defied the odds over the years.

There will be plenty of eyes on the game at the Stadium of Light, but the Black Cats boss Lee Johnson is downplaying both sides position at this point in the season.

“It’s very early days as we know in the division” Johnson said.

“We’ve started well and they’ve started well. I saw them play against Shrewsbury Town last week which I thought was a pretty convincing win if I’m honest and they just do a great job don’t they?

“The manager has been so successful there over the years. Obviously the maximise what they’ve got in terms of recruitment and they’ve got some really good players.

“Obviously the two strikers stand out as dangerous players that have got real quality and, not only have they done well to recruit them and develop them, but they’ve done extremely well to keep them when most probably thought they’d have ended up moving on in the last window.

“It’s another really big challenge. I know where we are and we’re in a good place with a very strong squad and you look at that starting eleven tomorrow and you’ll look at the eleven or the ten that are not in the squad and that, in my opinion, can be a top two or top six level squad as well.

“In the end, it’s all about attitude. It’s about making sure that we turn up in front of our fans.

“There’s a really good vibe. We don’t want to lose that, we don’t want to ruin that, we want to enhance that.

“We’ve also got to respect Accrington’s strengths because they’ve got a lot of them. It’s going to be a really difficult game for both teams and we’re full of enthusiasm.

“I think every individual that will be starting on the bench tomorrow has that confidence in there own game and also the game of their team mates so things happen in football and it’s not just a one game process, this is a period of four, five, six or ten games that we’ve got to stay consistent in our standards and our performance levels.

“To be fair to the lads, so far they have and there’s still loads of improvement to come which I suppose is the exciting bit for all of us."