DAN NEIL has called on Sunderland to use the international break as a big reset heading into the final eight games of the Championship campaign.

The Black Cats have fallen well off the play-off pace after six defeats on the bounce, Saturday's 0-0 draw with QPR bringing an end to that unwanted losing streak. That being said, Mike Dodds was disappointed with the performance of his side at the Stadium of Light.

It was a display he called naïve and laboured - and there was very little room for argument. Something Neil echoed in his post-match interview.

"I think you can take that as a little positive but at the end of the day we want to win every game," Neil said. "I think Doddsy has said it in the past, we don’t go into games to lose or draw, we go in to win them. We set up today to win and obviously it didn’t pan out that way.

“I think one positive is that we found a way not to lose. If you are not going to win the game, definitely don’t lose it. I still think we were a little bit naïve at the end and they could have nicked it.

“I think we just have to use this international break coming up as a big reset. I think players, staff and the fans, it’s a big reset button going into the last eight games and we need to finish off as well as we can.”

The Black Cats will be hoping to use the international break as an opportunity to get some injured players back fit for the final part of the Championship run in, having had ten outfield players missing in recent weeks.

“The mentality is still there from the group,” Neil added. “We come into training, we learn and we work hard. We are taking things onboard. I think little stats like running stats, they have gone through the roof, so it’s not a case of not trying or not giving our all.

“I think injuries have played a massive part. If you look at the injury list, the majority of players are massive players for us. The players we have playing now are really good players but they have only just come to the club and have kind of been thrown in at the deep end.

“We have had a tough run of fixtures, Leicester, Norwich, Southampton. It has been quite tough but the mentality is still there to try and win every game we play. We’re going to try and do that until the end of the season.”