SUNDAY was another one of those days for Sunderland - and there have been a few over the years. How the players react, according to full-back Billy Jones, is the only thing that matters now.

When West Bromwich Albion, Jones’ former club, arrive on Wearside this Saturday, the Black Cats could do without a third successive defeat and to lift some of the doom and gloom by securing a second Premier League win since before Christmas.

But as things stand, Sunderland are in a very precarious position. While the league table still has them sitting three places above the relegation zone, with a two point gap to third from bottom Aston Villa, tension has increased dramatically in recent weeks.

Gus Poyet’s much-publicised post-match comments – directed at the fans and then the media on separate occasions - have not helped relations between the head coach and the stands, but neither have results and performances.

Criticism of the team’s play had become stronger before last weekend and then the defeat to League One’s Bradford City on an awful surface at Valley Parade in the FA Cup increased the negativity. Poyet still has strong support from the stands, but there are a growing number of fans that have turned against him.

On the training ground at the Academy of Light this week, Sunderland’s players are refocusing. With the Bradford defeat gone, Poyet must ensure his group move on and Jones, who has experienced relegation battles in the past with West Brom and Preston, thinks the squad has the right characters to finish the campaign strongly.

“I think it’s obviously hard because it (being in the spotlight) is around the club at the moment, with the FA Cup defeat,” said the 27-year-old. “I think you’ve just got to try to stay positive and remember to focus on good performances and wins which we’ve produced as a team in the season. We must try to just remember what you’ve done as a collective and individually in those games, and try to emulate it, to recreate that atmosphere.

“To be honest, it’s just about knuckling down and trying to move on from the game and the disappointment, knowing that if you dwell too much on it it’s going to affect you in the next game, as a group, and even games after that.

“I think you just try to forget about it as soon as possible, learn from it if there are things to learn from, to help you in the next game and just knuckle down in training, concentrate on the game plan for beating West Brom.”

Bradford’s heroics – however abject Sunderland’s display was – stunned the travelling supporters and infighting between those fans emphasised the split that has grown with regard to Poyet’s position.

Jones said: “After a result like that, and a performance like that, you just want to quickly move on. The next game can’t come soon enough, and it’s obviously a massive game against West Brom, which we could do with winning.

“It happened for a number of reasons, a bad start - obviously it didn’t help conceding so early. We were up against it then, and performance-wise we just didn’t show the quality that we know we possess to get the result. They obviously worked hard, which we knew was coming. They got that early goal and they’ve gone on from there.”

In the past Sunderland have often failed to make the most of opportunities like Saturday’s visit of fellow strugglers West Brom, but under Poyet they have shown they can record positive results occasionally when it matters.

And while the threat of relegation is nowhere near the height it was last season, there is a feeling that the Uruguayan must come up with a way of stringing a decent run together to ease frustrations on Wearside. Jones feels the squad has the characters to help Poyet.

Jones said: “I think every player in our dressing room has been in those games, and you do feel that tension, you feel that atmosphere in the air, and I think, to be honest, it can sometimes work in a positive way, knowing it’s there.

“It can galvanise you, and I’m sure that’s what it’ll be like for the game on Saturday. We’re in that situation, and we’ve been in that situation individually and as a group before.”