IF there has been anything to take from this Sunderland side under Alex Neil, it’s that they don’t know when they are beaten. Having stretched their unbeaten run under the Scotsman to 18 games from last season, their recent comeback against Bristol City was a prime example of a ‘never say die’ attitude.

“We’ve shown that resilience since mid-February. From then onwards, what we’ve got is a real determination to make sure that we are never beaten and that we keep going and we get the goals that matter” said Neil in today’s press conference.

Following this season’s promotion to the Championship, the challenge of coping with a higher standard of football was inherently obvious. However, Sunderland have not made a bad life to start back in the second tier with one win and one draw from two.

Saturday’s 3-2 win showed different sides to their game. After taking the lead early on in the game through Ellis Simms, they were pegged back in their efforts thanks to Robins’ goals from Andreas Weimann and Chris Martin. But Simms finish followed by Ross Stewart’s late header earned all three points for the Black Cats in the southwest.

Tomorrow night, a familiar face and environment welcomes Sunderland as they make the trip to Sheffield Wednesday in their first round game in the Carabao Cup. The Owls were beaten over two legs in the League One play off semi finals by Neil’s side on their way to promotion.

He continued: “That is easier obviously at League One particularly when you are bringing guys off the bench that can have a major impact. It’s much more difficult when you move up the levels because the opponents are so much wiser, they are so much better in terms of seeing games out and it is much harder to break them down.

“To do it at this level in such a good game away from home (Bristol City) I think was a great thing for us.”

Whilst the current crop of players have made a decent fist of their opening games of the season, Sunderland are still looking to push through deals for a number of additions before the end of the window.

They were recently unsuccessful in their attempts to lure Nathan Broadhead to the club with the Everton striker having completed a loan move to Championship rivals Wigan Athletic.

The nature of the transfer market has proved to have made things difficult for a number of clubs at Championship level. But Neil is resisting the temptation of making signings just for the sake of adding numbers to his squad before the end of the window.

He continued: “I think you can make as many signings as you like but they would not be of the quality that you would want. I think that is where the difficulty comes in.

“There are thousands of players available and every window that goes by, naturally when contracts end, there are so many players available but we need a specific type that we want to come and play at this club.

“They need to have a certain type of mentality to play here because of the scrutiny and the pressures that come with playing here. Equally, they need to have certain types of qualities to make sure they are effective here. Those players are hard to find.”