REPUBLIC of Ireland international Jason McAteer believes that Sunderland could benefit from the impatience of fans at his old club Blackburn Rovers when the sides meet at Ewood Park this afternoon.

McAteer, who has proved to be a snip at £1m, has no fears of going back to his old stamping ground and is ready to mark the card of manager Peter Reid about his former teammates as Sunderland chase their first double of the season.

He said: "I should get a good reception at Ewood Park because I left on good terms with the fans. It was one of those things between me and the manager - he didn't fancy me.

"Actually when I was with Blackburn I found it quite hard to play at home. It is a very anxious crowd and if something doesn't happen within the first ten minutes they can get on the players' backs.

"We were a better team away from home, so if we can get at them and get the crowd turned we could be in for a good day."

McAteer said beating Everton 1-0 was a great start to the holiday period.

"We were desperate for the points and we got them - now we need to do something about our away record," he said.

"I just hope it is not a mentality thing, where we go away thinking we are not going to win - that can happen.

"I am hoping we can get a result at Blackburn on the back of the victory over Everton and just try our best.

"I think it's coming - we seem to be creating chances away from home, especially against Middlesbrough and Leicester and we've got to try to put them away."

McAteer certainly has no regrets about moving to Wearside - and he is glad he chose to switch to the North-East which, he feels, is very much football orientated like his native Merseyside.

He said: "Peter Reid's man management is very old school, but the club is very forward thinking.

"Behind the scenes here are run very well - it is very professional and it is the first time I have seen a psychologist at a football club and there is everything you want on hand.

"Peter Reid seems to know how to get the best out of players - I have played for four managers and there has been no-one better."

He added: "I feel that I always put 110 per cent into my game and at Blackburn I felt I didn't get the credit I was due - sometimes I got dragged off during a game when I thought I was doing well.

"Everyone needs an arm around the shoulder now and again and being told 'well done' doesn't hurt - it's all good and that's when Peter Reid and Bobby Saxton do here.

"I don't feel that my game has come on - I just feel happy and that's when I play my best football. That's the same in any walk of life."

But McAteer stressed: "I'm not going to slag off Graeme Souness - he has got a good young team and they have some good young players.

"He might be saying that Premiership security is the aim, but I think secretly he is looking to finish in the top half and maybe sneak a European place with the funds he has available. I can see what he is trying to do there."

McAteer added: "I am glad I moved North rather than South - a lot of my friends are southerners and I think they have a different way of life and have a different sense of humour. I've come up here and it's exactly the same as home. It's been quite easy to settle in."

Reid is delighted with the way McAteer has filled his problem spot on the right flank.

He said: "He has settled in here terrifically well and as well as doing a job for me on the pitch he is quite a character in the dressing room - I like the dressing room to be lively so it's a double boost.

"Some players need challenges all the time and Jason has handled it well. He has a tremendous appetite and desire to succeed."

Reid wants his side to erase memories of their rock-bottom performance in the 2-0 defeat at Southampton.

He said: "At Blackburn we will need to put in a good performance and recently we haven't done that away from home.

"But it will be difficult - Blackburn have had a terrific result at Charlton and they will be up for it.

"We need to come up with a good performance and show we can compete better away from home."

With three games in seven days Reid might decide to share the workload and he will take a full squad to Ewood Park.

Sunderland (from): Sorensen, Haas, Craddock, Williams, Thome, Gray, McAteer, Reyna, McCann, Arca, Kilbane, Phillips, Quinn, Schwarz, McCartney, Thirlwell, Kyle, Butler, Macho.

l Five points from three games is a more than acceptable festive return so far for West Ham manager Glenn Roeder. He always calculated that December plus the New Year's Day clash with Leeds United would be the defining month of his first season in charge, but as he called his players in for training prior to today's clash with Derby County, Roeder, who has experienced a wide range of highs and lows since succeeding Harry Redknapp, acknowledged that the job is only half done.