At Rotherham, Michael Beale outlines his demands of the Sunderland team.

For their final game of the year tomorrow, Sunderland travels to Rotherham United, and manager Michael Beckett has urged his team to display both character and consistency.

After his team’s 3-0 loss to Coventry City last weekend, Beale’s Black Cats’ reign took a major turn for the better when Jack Clarke’s strike secured a Boxing Day victory at Hull City.

Sunderland’s players showed amazing resilience to bounce back from the setback at Coventry and win all three points against Hull. The victory at the MKM Stadium put them back in the play-off spots.

Although Beale thought the performance checked off a box on his wish list, the new head coach is now looking for proof that his team can improve their consistency in the second half of the season. Although Rotherham may support the Championship standings, their Boxing Day victory against Middlesbrough demonstrated their strength.

“I’m absolutely delighted with the mentality and character the players showed (at Hull),” said Beale. “That is a big, big positive for me moving forward that they did that.

For me right now, consistency is the most important thing. We’ve played ten games so far this season and have won ten, so it’s obvious that we can defeat anyone, but anyone can defeat us on a bad day. That’s a huge plus on the opening match of our second half of the season, if you will, but we need to support it at Rotherham.

“We need to rest, and it’s crucial that we get ready for this upcoming game. Once more, the contradiction indicates to me that neither high nor low is possible. We had two excellent performances (against Leeds and West Brom), two poor performances (against Bristol City and Coventry). We can now take a deep breath after two league games and another significant result (against Hull). It’s critical that we continue this.

Beale made two substitutions for injured players against Hull: Jenson Seelt for Niall Huggins and Bradley Dack for Abdoullah Ba. Dack then sustained an injury of his own, but initially at least, the former Rangers and QPR manager seems hesitant to make wholesale alterations to either tactics or personnel. That could change as time goes on, though, once Beale’s knowledge of his squad increases.

He remarked, “I’ve got some ideas coming in, but I haven’t had time to put them into practice.” People will begin to notice a few minor changes that have occurred.

“As a coach, I sincerely hope the players seize their opportunity, but there is a line of players waiting in line to play for a new head coach.

“They believe they have better quality in a better area than what they have so far demonstrated to Sunderland supporters.” It’s a positive sign that so many individuals are eager to join and leap onto the field.