THERE’S no time for Sunderland to dwell on the weekend’s hammering to Rotherham with the Black Cats straight back in action tonight.  

The Black Cats road trips to promotion contenders haven’t been particularly enjoyable this season. Against Portsmouth, they suffered a 4-0 trouncing last month while the 5-1 loss to the Millers on Saturday may well have shed some light on problems in the squad.  

But there’s no rest for the wicked as Lee Johnson’s side head to Yorkshire to face Sheffield Wednesday at the illustrious and historic Hillsborough.  

Over 2,500 Sunderland fans making the disappointing trip to the New York Stadium on Saturday and they’ll be expected to travel in their numbers once again. That heightens the importance for Sunderland to respond with a performance tonight in the manager’s eyes but also gives him food for thought in the weeks ahead.  

Johnson said: “We need to simplify the mind for sure. It’s to make sure that individual dual is won. 

“Whatever happens in the next game, what we have to show is that willingness to get to your own personal best whether you’re a midfielder, full-back, centre-half but it’s also that you’ve got to take care of the two or three players around you.  

“If we do that well, we know that we’ve got a good enough team to pick up a lot of wins in this division.  

“Today has been a really bad day for us and a day, we can say learn from but we’ve already had that learning experience so today didn’t happen.  

“So today has definitely showed us a flaw. Therefore we’ve got to address it, whether that’s now, whether that’s in January through personnel or whether that’s building on the basics before we start thinking we are a better team than we are.” 

Dan Neil is having a wonderful season in a Sunderland shirt which was recently capped off last week by signing a fresh new contract until the summer of 2025.  

The 19-year-old saw how quickly things can change in football and has backed himself and his team mates to put things right at Hillsborough.  

“We’re a tight group” Neil said.  

“Everyone’s got each other’s backs. It comes round again and we just need to make sure that we stick together and turn up on Tuesday and put in a good performance.  

“I know that they (the supporters) are going to be coming in their numbers on Tuesday like they always do. 

“We just need to make sure we are bang on it and put in a performance that they will be proud of.” 

Sheffield Wednesday, recently relegated from the Championship, are finding it hard to adjust to life in League One.  

Five wins all season has left fans frustrated with the Owls currently perched just outside the play-offs.  

Their frustrations were compounded at the weekend against Cheltenham Town when they conceded a late equaliser to let their lead slip drawing the game 2-2.  

Wednesday are battling against a number of injuries in the squad with defender Dominic Iorfa becoming the latest casualty.  

He will be assessed by the club’s medical staff after picking up a training ground injury the night before the game.  

Manager Darren Moore told Yorkshire Live: “We will assess it and have a look. It is 50/50.  

“It is another injury we could have done without. We will continue to work through it. We are having to make adjustments.  

“We are fighting for one another. These things happen in football. I believe we will work through it and get those bodies back that we need.” 

As for the Black Cats, they’ll be hopeful that Alex Pritchard is fit enough to feature after aggravating a neck problem last week. 

Aiden McGeady will be suspended after being sent off against Rotherham United in the second half at the New York Stadium.  

The club awaiting news on Denver Hume’s injury while Niall Huggins remains a long term absentee with a back problem.