SUNDERLAND’S midweek cup victory at QPR might have drawn a line under last weekend’s disappointing home defeat to Charlton, but Lee Johnson accepts his side will only really have recovered their momentum if they see off promotion rivals Rotherham United at the New York Stadium at the weekend.

The Black Cats’ penalty shoot-out success at Loftus Road means they are in the hat for Saturday morning’s Carabao Cup quarter-final draw, with Wednesday night’s results ensuring they are guaranteed to meet Premier League opposition in the last eight.

That is an enticing prospect, but in the meantime, attention has already switched to Saturday afternoon’s return to league duty, with Sunderland taking on a Rotherham side that currently sit just a place and a point below them in the table.

The midweek league results went in the Wearsiders’ favour, with Wigan suffering a surprise home defeat to Lincoln, so Johnson’s side remain just two points off the top of the table, with at least a game in hand on all three of the teams currently above them. If that gap reduces again at the weekend, the impact of the Charlton defeat will have been well and truly diminished.

“The 72 hours after the QPR game were always going to be really big for us in terms of rest and recovery because we’ve got another really big game on Saturday,” said Johnson. “If you look at all the in-depth statistics we look at, then Rotherham, along with us and another couple of sides, are the top teams in the division at the moment.

“It’ll be a really tough game, and we’re going to have to rejuvenate the energy levels for what will be a competitive match.

"Hopefully, we’ll be able to rotate and move players around, but at the same time, you want to be able to keep that consistency.

“You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t in terms of team selection at times. But all I’ll say is that at least the boys have clarity, and we know they have quality. Hopefully, we’ll be able to churn out another good performance.”

Elliot Embleton will return to the squad for Saturday’s game, having completed the suspension that was incurred by his dismissal at Gillingham, but Johnson will spend the next 24 hours assessing some of the walking wounded that picked up knocks during the QPR game.

Denver Hume left Loftus Road with his foot in a protective boot after suffering an impact injury to his ankle, while Lynden Gooch and Corry Evans were both exhausted at the final whistle after they returned to first-team duty following injury absences. Alex Pritchard is still being troubled by a neck injury, while Nathan Broadhead was unable to feature in the squad on Wednesday night.

Niall Huggins is the only long-term absentee, but with other clubs being able to rest players while Sunderland continue to attack on four different fronts, Johnson admits he will have to closely monitor how his players’ physical statistics stack up over the next few weeks.

“It’s a really difficult schedule for us,” he admitted. “Teams are going to get a couple of days extra rest than us here and there, and just don’t know whether that will come to the fore before the end.

“We’ve gone through to the next round in the Carabao Cup again, and that’s great, but it makes it really difficult to keep churning it out. It’s hard to keep that zip, especially if you’ve got a few injuries and you can’t really make any changes, as was the case last week.

"I could smell that Charlton game (coming in terms of the performance) because the zip just wasn’t quite there.”