IF anyone thinks Sunderland's players wash their hands of the club's troubles once they leave the pitch, they should speak to Tommy Miller.

As the Black Cats lurch towards becoming the Premiership's worst-ever side, the midfielder has insisted any suggestion the club's players could not care less about their predicament could not be further from the truth.

With relegation back to the Championship an inevitability - Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Bolton was their 24th in the top flight this season - Miller says there is a steely determination within the camp to restore a modicum of pride in the games that remain.

Miller made his return to the side at the weekend, his first game in just over a month after completing a one-match suspension against West Ham and then not being picked for the following three games against Birmingham, Manchester City and Wigan.

Although he was one of Sunderland's better players at the Reebok Stadium at the weekend, he ended on the losing side again, the pain of defeat piled upon defeat all too apparent.

"If anyone thinks we don't care they want to spend a weekend in my house after a game, or any of the other lads' houses. My missus will tell you that I am terrible to live with at the minute. I am sure other girlfriends and wives will tell you the same.

"I don't go home with a smile on my face after the game. That's not the case and none of the lads do that. It's disappointing at the minute, but you have just got to keep yourself going."

Keeping yourself going might seem pointless, bearing in mind the parlous state Sunderland find themselves in.

But Miller says professional pride and loyalty to the massed ranks of supporters, his father-in-law included, who still turn out at the Stadium of Light despite having not witnessed a home win all season, is motivation enough.

"You have got to find it within yourself," said the 27-year-old from Easington. "It's a test of character. We have been at the bottom of the league for a while and it's so disappointing and it does knock your confidence. But you have just got to try your best to get out of it and, in fairness, the lads have been doing that. They have kept a smile on their faces and have tried to hide it a little bit."

Although Miller has experienced the highs, he has also experienced the lows and so is perhaps more hardened than most when it comes to emerging through the other side in one piece.

"At Hartlepool I have fought for league survival in the old Division Three. It's a different sort of pressure because you are going to go into the Conference. You might go part-time. I was a young lad at the time and you don't know what the future holds," he said.

"The pressure at Sunderland is different. The club, as a whole, deserves to be in the Premier League, from the supporters, to the ground, to the training facilities, it's all geared for the Premier League. It would be a big blow to go into the Championship."

Suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card in the 2-0 loss at Blackburn in February, Miller found it frustrating on the sidelines after being passed over in favour of youngster Grant Leadbitter and not being told why his face didn't fit.

"I was disappointed I didn't get back in the squad. But the team has been playing relatively well, to be fair, and young Grant has come in and has done very well," he said.

"I was given no reason whatsoever. The first game back that I was eligible for was West Ham. I was left out of the 16 for that and he (then boss Mick McCarthy) didn't really give me a reason.

"I was disappointed. I know my performances have been a bit up and down, as it has been with a lot of the lads. But I have knuckled down in training and I was back in at the weekend."

Miller's return to action against Sam Allardyce's high-fliers coincided with a return to his favoured attacking midfield role.

Prior to McCarthy's sacking he had been asked to play a holding role, a position that curtailed any chances to add to his free-scoring reputation.

"Basically, that's not my game really. I am not that sort of player. I don't think I did it for Ipswich and I certainly didn't do it for Hartlepool," Miller said. "When I came to the club I was playing with Dean Whitehead and he is another one who likes to get forward and so we have been taking it in turns to sit a bit.

"My game is to get forward and my goals record in midfield proves that."

However, when caretaker boss Kevin Ball told Miller he was picking him at the weekend it came with a remit to get forward at every opportunity.

"I have played against Bally a few times and he knows what I am good at doing. He knows what I am best at and he said 'get yourself in the box, get forward as much as you can, get some shots in and try and get a goal' and that's what I tried to do," he said.

* Under-fire centre back Gary Breen is being linked with a move to Sheffield United in the summer. Breen, stripped of the captaincy and booed at the weekend after coming on as substitute, is being lined-up as a replacement for Craig Short in Neil Warnock's Championship promotion-chasing side.

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