TRAI Hume insists Sunderland won't underestimate Rotherham and points to last season's defeat at the New York Stadium as evidence of the tough challenge facing the Black Cats tonight.

The Millers are bottom of the Championship but welcome Sunderland (7.45pm) on the back of a morale-boosting Boxing Day victory over Middlesbrough - their first under new boss Leam Richardson - and have just lost four of their 12 home games so far this season.

Back in February, Sunderland headed for the New York Stadium on an eight-game unbeaten away run and in the heart of the promotion mix only to lose 2-1 to Rotherham, who weren't propping up the table as they are now but were still struggling and scrapping for survival.

Sunderland were boosted by the impressive win at Hull last time out, Michael Beale's first in charge, but Hume insists the Black Cats are well aware of the dangers of tonight's game.

"Rotherham are a difficult team to play," said the full-back.

"They're direct, they play off second balls, we lost there last year, they're a good side, it's a fortress for them so we'll have to go and be organised and try and get the three points."

Hume felt Sunderland were unfortunate in last weekend's defeat to Coventry as Beale's tenure got off to the worst possible start and said the Black Cats got what they deserved as they bounced back at Hull.

"The weekend was tough," he said.

"They (Coventry) had three chances and scored three goals, we created a lot of chances and didn't score. We spoke about it after the game, we weren't good enough in both boxes, so to follow that up with a goal, a clean sheet and a win was deserved.

"We reflected after that Coventry game, we did a few things wrong but also did things right. Hull are a good side, they play good football so we had to be more organised and sit deeper and we did that well."

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Jenson Seelt is likely to keep his place in the Sunderland defence tonight having impressed at Hull in the absence of Niall Huggins, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season and needs surgery on what the club described as a "significant" knee injury.

Beale also has a decision to make in attack after Bradley Dack was forced off in the first half at Hull with a hamstring problem. Dack had started the game up-front and was replaced by Adil Aouchiche, while Beale started Abdoullah Ba as the central frontman in his first game against Coventry. Alex Pritchard is also an option tonight.

None of Sunderland's recognised strikers have started a game since Tony Mowbray's sacking, with a new centre-forward a priority for the Black Cats in next month's transfer window.

Rotherham boss Richardson has called for the home fans to play their part tonight as the Millers look to build on their Boro win. The Boxing Day success ended a run of 10 games without a victory for the Millers.

Richardson said: "It's another very challenging game, it's going to be really competitive. They're full of good, young players and are in a really strong position.

"If we give the same account of ourselves and work as hard as we did against Middlesbrough, we'll be competitive.

"The crowd is so important. We know the importance, the players need that energy, if there's a run to be made the crowd will push them on."

Rotherham will again be without defenders Grant Hall and Lee Peltier and winger Fred Onyedinma.