LEE Cattermole insists Sunderland are still on track for their top eight objective, despite suffering their heaviest defeat of the campaign. Skipper Cattermole had little defence or explanation for the depths the Black Cats reached at the Hawthorns on Saturday, after West Bromâs 4-0 rout inflicted Sunderlandâs first loss by more than one goal since May. It was hardly ideal preparation for this weekendâs Tyne-Wear derby, even if Sunderland remain ninth in the Premier League despite the gap with the bottom half narrowing. But Cattermole is confident there will be a reaction at the Sports Direct Arena on Sunday lunchtime and believes one setback should not overshadow the remarkable turnaround in the clubâs fortunes under Martin OâNeill. Cattermole told the Echo: âWeâll pull together because weâve still got a lot to play for this season. âWeâre still in the FA Cup and the aim is to finish in eighth â and weâre still on course for that. âWhen the gaffer took over three months ago, weâd have definitely taken where we are now, so we canât get too disheartened. âItâll be a tough week in the build-up to next weekend, but I think itâll give everyone a gee-up and put a spring back in our step to say âcome on then, letâs see what weâre all aboutâ. âItâll be a good game against Newcastle and itâs something weâre looking forward to. âBut after a game like Saturday, I donât think it matters who we play next week. âWeâve got to regroup and move on from it. The lads probably canât wait to get back into it.â Sunderland never recovered from Peter Odemwingieâs third-minute opener and when the Nigerian doubled his tally to hand West Brom an unassailable three-goal lead three minutes into the second half, the Black Catsâ hopes of a comeback were effectively ended. âWe are human, we do make mistakes and on Saturday we didnât show up,â said Cattermole (right). âFrom the heights we were up against Arsenal and then to go to West Brom and put in a poor performance like that, weâre all looking for reasons why. âBut I think just in general, we werenât together as a team. We werenât pressing together, we were giving the ball away and making wrong decisions. âI just thought everything on the day went wrong, even though in the second half we had a few chances. âIf weâd have scored, there might have been a little change in the game, but it wasnât to be. âThey were sloppy goals to concede, goals that we donât usually give away. âWeâve been pretty solid at the back and been a really hard team to beat. âWest Brom will have been wondering how Sunderland had done so well in recent weeks, with the way we turned up.â .................................................................................. Now it seems Catts will be one of the few survivors of this team.. Mignolet Onuoha - Turner - Bramble - Bardsley Elmohammady - Henderson - Cattermole - Malbranque Bent - Welbeck.... But mig could still be in goal
