MICK McCARTHY has warned his Sunderland side to be on their guard for their visit to Brighton this afternoon.

The Black Cats' boss believes the Wearsiders are a big scalp for smaller Championship sides, given their prestige and standing, and says this provides a big incentive for other teams in the division, the struggling Seagulls included.

McCarthy drew from his own experience as a player and admitted nothing gave him more pleasure when playing for Barnsley than giving one of the Football League's big clubs a 'slap' when they visited Oakwell.

"They'll be well organised, well coached and they'll be motivated against us because we are a scalp," he said. "We are a big club, and I've been there.

"When I was at Barnsley and the bigger clubs were coming down, and nothing give me a greater pleasure than giving them a slap at Oakwell.

"It was the same when I was manager at Millwall and it will be the same when we go to Brighton - I'm not under any illusions that it will be any different.

"They'll use everything in their power to try to beat us. Every team in this league has the ability to beat the top teams. We just have to be diligent and make sure we get the right result, which is a win of course."

McCarthy would rather concentrate on how his own side performs on the south coast today before casting his eye in the direction of his promotion rivals.

But the Sunderland boss knows that should Wigan slip up and lose today, and they take something from the Withdean Stadium, his side will occupy one of the two automatic promotion places for the first time this season.

He said: "We have an opportunity this weekend because Wigan have Leeds at home, which is a tough game, and Preston, who are the form team, are hosting Ipswich.

"I know Wigan certainly have the ability to beat Leeds and I know Ipswich have the ability to go to Preston and win.

"Everyone puts stats to me that Preston are the form side, but it's about time they got a doing as well, so it might be this weekend, I don't know.

"The game is about us and at about 4.45pm seeing what else is happening in the league."

McCarthy will next month celebrate his second anniversary in charge at the Stadium of Light.

Since taking over from Howard Wilkinson in March 2003 the Sunderland boss has managed to steady the ship and reverse the club's sinking fortunes.

When McCarthy joined the luckless Black Cats they had lost their previous seven league games.

The former Republic of Ireland boss still couldn't prevent the Wearsiders losing the remaining nine games of their Premiership season, and things got even worse before they improved.

Sunderland went on to lose a further two league games after they were relegated, before a 2-0 away win at Preston prevented them sharing Darwen's century-old record number of successive league defeats.

Despite this McCarthy says he still understands the expectations and ambitions of the club are as high as ever, but admitted he does not feel under any extreme pressure to succeed - apart from the weight of his own expectation.

"The job is a high-profile one with a big club, huge expectations and high ambitions from the chairman at the top of the chain to whoever it is at the bottom, and those in between," he confessed.

"I certainly put demands upon myself and I certainly put demands on my players. What is nice is the players put them on each other as well.

"So the pressure from taking the job three years ago, I don't think it has changed. I don't gauge ups and downs.

"We were bottom of the Premiership with 19 points and then went through 17 games (without a win).

"And then we started poorly last year, got to third, then the play-offs.

"We did not start off great this year but we're now third.

"The job is high-profile, pressurised is the wrong word.

"There are expectations of me and the club and I guess I'm a custodian of those expectations, and so with that comes responsibility, but I'm not looking stressed am I?

"I get revved up at games and I did in training the other day, when I fell out with everybody, but that's just me.

"Everybody copped it in the ear on Tuesday and that wasn't because we were third in the league; it was because I'm a grumpy bollocks when I'm playing and I expect to win and I want to win and it's the same when my team are playing."