Shock admission from Bryan Oviedo as Sunderland head into vital clash

Oviedo hit a consolation goal in the 3-1 midweek defeat to Birmingham City and was the pick of a bad bunch at St Andrew’s.

And Oviedo believes the key to being prepared is in Sunderland’s mindset, suggesting his side need to adopt a more positive mentality to move clear of danger.

“I think it’s all mentality,” said Oviedo ahead of the visit of Ipswich Town in the Championship tomorrow (3pm kick-off).

“We need to get a good, winning mentality. Sometimes we don’t have that and if we play like that we cannot win games.

“We need to start hard in the first second, running for every ball and fighting for every ball.

“In the Championship, you need to fight, you need to run and be strong in every aspect. We need to do what we did in the last 20 minutes (at Birmingham)from the start of the game.

“We were strong and fighting for every ball.

“Sometimes we play a little scared, but we need to look at ourselves because we have to be better.

“Sunderland is a fantastic club and have everything needed to be fighting to get back in the Premier League.”

Oviedo insists that his personal milestone was rendered insignificant by the abject display.

“It was frustrating because it was nice for me to score my first Sunderland goal, but, after a loss, it’s not that good of a moment,” he admitted.

“It’s difficult for us because we played a very good game against Hull.

“We thought we could continue that, but it was a very different game.

“Every game is different in the Championship and we need to be ready for that.”