WHEN Plymouth boss Bobby Williamson described Sunderland's squad as "one of the strongest in the division" on Tuesday night, few were prepared to disagree.

After all, you do not get to the top of the table unless you are able to beat most of the teams you are up against.

But, when skipper Gary Breen read Williamson's comments in the run-up to today's game with Coventry, he found it difficult to stifle a smile.

When Sunderland last faced the Sky Blues - a 2-0 defeat at Highfield Road on the opening day of the season - the centre-half felt unable to speak of the squad's relative strength.

It wasn't that he wanted to be disrespectful to his colleagues and it wasn't that he was questioning things in the wake of August's reverse - it was just that, after Mick McCarthy had taken a giant leap into the unknown, he didn't really know who some of his team-mates were.

"I'd be lying if I said that I didn't wonder if the new guys were good enough," said Breen, who was handed the captain's armband after Jason McAteer left Wearside in the summer. "But, over the course of the season, they've proved that they are.

"I've been reading things lately that have said we've got the strongest squad, but I think that's a bit of an injustice to the manager, to be honest.

"We've got players who have been playing non-league football and lower-league football, yet now people are talking about us having the strongest squad.

"I don't think, on any occasion, the manager's gone out and bought a proven player at this level.

"What has happened this season is all because of the work the players have done and the work the manager has done with those players.

"At the beginning of the season, you wouldn't have thought half the first team would have been capable of playing the way they have this year."

Not that Breen is taking stock of things just yet.

The 31-year-old has always been his own harshest critic - last May he summed up the preceding nine months as an "undeniable failure" after Sunderland missed out on promotion - and, with eight games to go, this season could still go the same way.

Wigan and Ipswich look like taking the promotion race to the wire and, with daunting trips to both the JJB Stadium and Portman Road looming large, there will be no room for error in the next two months.

Sunderland's promotion credentials were called into question when they suffered a 2-1 defeat at Brighton last month but, by winning five on the bounce since, the Black Cats have the mettle for what lies ahead.

"It was disappointing at Brighton," remembered Breen. "Our fans weren't particularly happy and they showed that.

"We understand that. If you do well for Sunderland they love you, if you don't there's no in between.

"But to come back after that defeat with five straight wins is a credit to the lads, especially the young players who probably haven't been in this position before.

"This isn't the time for patting people on the back though - that's something for when we've achieved our goal."

If Sunderland are to earn promotion, they will need both Breen and his centre-half partner, Steve Caldwell, to be at their very best.

The pair have shipped just three goals in five games and, in recent weeks, their influence has also been felt at the other end of the field.

Breen scored in successive games against Rotherham and Cardiff - his only goals of the season - while Caldwell's header against Plymouth made it four for the campaign.

"If he (Caldwell) can score ten more goals and I don't get any, I'll be delighted," joked Breen.

"He played exceptionally well (against Plymouth) and even produced a fantastic cross for the opening goal.

"I'm having to stay back and make sure we don't concede.