ANTHONY Patterson admits Sunderland's players were preparing for a "tougher" Championship this season but believes the Black Cats have already shown they can hold their own against anyone in the division.

Tony Mowbray's in-form side made it five wins from their last six games with a comfortable 2-0 success over Watford in midweek. Sunderland are sitting pretty in fourth, have the second best goal difference in the division and have only lost twice since the opening weekend of the season. Regardless of how tomorrow's game against Middlesbrough plays out, the Black Cats will be in the top six going into the international break.

Sunderland finished in the top six last season, of course, but with Leicester, Southampton and Leeds United coming down with extremely strong squads and Ipswich coming up with momentum and a big budget, it was widely accepted that the second tier looked likely to be more competitive this season.

But the early signs suggest Sunderland will again be in the mix for promotion.

"I think at the start of the season we looked at the division and thought it was going to be tougher, but full credit to the lads and we’ve done really well and performed really well to put us where we are in the league," said Patterson,

"Hopefully we can continue that now for the rest of the season.

"Even if you look at the defeats we’ve had we’ve been the better team in almost every game, if not every game. It’s just a case of keep building, keep performing and I’m sure we’ll do well."

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Only Leicester City and Ipswich, the top two in the league standings, have scored more goals than Sunderland so far this season, but the early success hasn't been purely based on the side's attacking threats. Patterson has kept four clean sheets, including successive shut-outs in the last two games.

The keeper and his Sunderland teammates are now desperate to maintain their momentum by signing off for the international break with a positive result against Boro at the Stadium of Light tomorrow.

He said: "The stadium will be packed for that one and it’s another big game and another game we’ll be looking to take three points from.

"It’s always a key thing when it’s an international break you want to go in there with good momentum having won the last game and having time to relax sort of thing. The games have been coming thick and fast recently."