"We must..." - Michael Beale challenges Sunderland players ahead of Rotherham encounter | OneFootball

Michael Beale has had a mixed start to life as the new Sunderland boss, with his side recording a home defeat to Coventry City prior to a first success under his guidance at fellow play-off hopefuls Hull City on Boxing Day afternoon.

In what was a cagey affair at the MKM Stadium, the Black Cats were ultimately the better of the two outfits in the second 45 minutes, and took all three points back to Wearside through a trademark Jack Clarke effort, as he eventually succeeded in cutting in from the left before firing a low effort past Matt Ingram in the Tigers net.

Despite the uncertainty around the club prior to Beale's appointment, Sunderland have remained in and around the play-off picture, and this result saw them leapfrog the Tigers on goal difference and back into the top six.

The victory on the road was also much needed for the Wearsiders, as it was their first since defeating Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on September 29th.

Next up for Sunderland is a return to Yorkshire, as they take on the division's bottom side Rotherham United, who will also be buoyed after their first victory under Leam Richardson, which came against Middlesbrough at the New York Stadium.

In the reverse fixture back in August, Sunderland emerged 2-1 victors as a Jobe Bellingham double turned the game on its head.

After two hugely contrasting performances during his first week at the Stadium of Light, Beale has therefore challenged his new chargers to improve their consistency as the second tier enters the second half of the campaign.

“I’m absolutely delighted with the mentality and character the players showed,” Beale began via the Northern Echo. "That is a big, big positive for me moving forward that they did that."

“The big thing for me now is that we need consistency. In the first half of our season, we’ve won ten and lost ten, so it’s clear that we can beat anyone but on our off day, anyone can beat us. On the first game of our second half of the season if you like, that’s a big positive, but we must back it up at Rotherham." He continued.

As a result of the hectic fixture schedule that comes with this time of year in the Championship, the former Queens Park Rangers boss hasn't had ample time on the training ground to fully implement his ideas, and therefore has opted to make small adjustments in between his two initial outings in the dugout.

“I’ve got some ideas coming in, but I’ve not had time to implement them," Beale added. "There’s been a couple of small changes that people will start to see.

“As a coach, I hope the players take their chance, but I do have a queue of people behind me that want a chance under a new head coach.

“They feel they’ve got a better quality in a better area than they’ve shown Sunderland fans so far. That’s a good thing, that we’ve got people dying to get on, jumping to get on the pitch.” He concluded.

Sunderland dealt major injury blow

Whilst Beale will be pleased with the character his side showed in East Yorkshire heading into Friday night's encounter against the Millers, the 43-year-old has been dealt a severe blow in his preparation for the game.

Sunderland confirmed on their official X account on Thursday morning that full-back Niall Huggins will "undergo surgery after sustaining a significant knee injury" after being stretchered off with five minutes to go in last Saturday's home defeat.