Quinn urges Black Cats to rediscover winning mentality

The Sunderland manager Niall Quinn realises his side must overcome the losers' mentality lingering from their relegation last season if they are to succeed in the Championship.

Quinn's talented side led Coventry City 1-0 in their opening match on Sunday but slipped to a 2-1 defeat at the Ricoh Arena. And the new chairman-manager believes the Black Cats must be mentally stronger ahead of Birmingham City's visit tonight.

"They've got to believe they are capable of winning," Quinn said. "In the players' minds, they feel they threw away three points on Sunday. They are very disappointed. If we go a goal up on Wednesday, I'll be screaming at them to go and score a second.

"There is a history in the last year of them dropping on to the back foot. We've got to be attack-minded."

The Birmingham City manager Steve Bruce is facing a striker crisis ahead of the meeting with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Cameron Jerome begins a three-match ban following his debut dismissal against Colchester and his fellow frontmen, Mikael Forssell (hamstring) and DJ Campbell (groin), are injury doubts.

Radhi Jaidi is still not match-fit and will have to wait a little longer for his debut while fellow defender Matthew Upson has yet to recover from an Achilles tendon rupture and remains a long-term absentee.

New signing Clive Clarke is in line to make his Sunderland debut after arriving from West Ham United, with George McCartney heading in the opposite direction. Clarke could replace Danny Collins at left-back while the midfielder Liam Lawrence could miss out with a dead leg sustained in the match against Coventry.