The Black Cats were subjected to their third loss of the League One campaign and the first on home ground as they were humbled 1-0 by a relegation-threatened Charlton Athletic side on Saturday.
The powers of recovery have been there for Lee Johnson’s side as they were able to immediately bounce back from the 4-0 defeat against Portsmouth at the start of the month.
Elliott feels that the need is to repeat that ability once again when they take on Rotherham United in their next league match this coming Saturday.
“It’s a big disappointment losing the home record but I fully expect this squad of players to bounce back“, Elliott wrote in his Sunderland Echo column.
“The experience in this division picked up over the last three years has to be used now and just like when the team got beat a few weeks ago down at Portsmouth they have to recover next week with a win.”
Though it is still early, Elliott feels that if the Black Cats keep dropping points they will soon lose that feel-good factor and then opposition teams will exploit that.
“I know it’s early days still and the league table isn’t looking too bad even after Saturday’s result
“But I believe if Sunderland do drop a few points then the feelgood factor will disappear and opposition teams will utilise this.
“This Sunderland squad is one of the best in the division and going up automatically has to be achieved this year.”
Sunderland are still within touching distance of top spot in League One, trailing leaders Plymouth Argyle by two points with two games in hand.
