John O’Shea insists Sunderland can still dream big despite the threat of relegation continuing to hang over them. Chief sports writer Mark Douglas reports.

JOHN O’Shea is wrestling with a description of Sunderland’s class of 2013. This is the team that can beat Manchester City one week and then follow it up with an anaemic display at Anfield; or swat aside West Ham with a swashbuckling performance a few days before losing to Bolton.

At the core they are a contradiction. In the first weeks of the season they couldn’t fashion a chance but were able to bolt the defensive door; recently they’ve been making opportunities but clean sheets have been thin on the ground.

So with a resigned smile on his face he settles on the words: “Consistently inconsistent.

“Consistency is the big thing we have to get back here. We are consistent about being inconsistent at the minute and that’s something we have to change.

“We are more than capable of doing it and getting the confidence back in terms of winning games and going ahead in games. If we can do that soon then I am sure we will be fine.” He then adds, with the wisdom of someone brought up in the Old Trafford finishing school: “And we have to do it sooner rather than later.”

That is the problem with Sunderland at the moment. One step forward has been accompanied by another one in the opposite direction, and it is difficult to maintain any sort of momentum when that is happening.

Fulham, QPR and Norwich represent opportunities to put points on the board, but we take nothing for granted with this Black Cats side. Often they are architects of their own downfall.

“We have got winnable games,” he admits. “Sometimes in the Premier League it doesn’t work out like that. Ideally if that was the case you would think you would be higher up the table, but you do pick up surprise points along the way.

“First and foremost it’s Fulham, but they have had a good result against Stoke. They will be confident coming up to the Stadium of Light. We know they have got some good experience, some good attacking players throughout the whole team and a manager who is very experienced too.

“We are under no illusions it is a difficult game too.”

It has been that kind of season on Wearside. Sunderland fans remain resolutely behind the Martin O’Neill revolution but they need something to cling to: a result or run that suggests firm progress to go with the solid foundations being put in place. One dunderheaded national newspaper columnist yesterday described the club as Premier League “padding”, neither relegation candidates nor challengers for honours.

It was suggested that supporting Sunderland must be “boring”. The article was dripping in ignorance, but there can be little debate that this has been a grey campaign for the Black Cats. No meaningful challenge in either cup competition has dovetailed with a season that began in bizarre circumstances (a plethora of draws and an August postponement) and has never really got going. Pre-season optimism was engendered by the ambitious double capture of Adam Johnson and Steven Fletcher and, while both have enjoyed their successes (Johnson’s qualified), there is more work to be done this summer after the modest expenditure of January.

When O’Shea signed in 2011, he talked of Sunderland’s vast potential and saw a club with both the means and resources to mount some form of challenge in the upper reaches of the Premier League.

He remains absolutely certain that it is an attainable goal – even if it is a long-term one.

“It can be a goal in the next couple of years. There’s lot of work ahead to get to that situation,” he said. “The manager will feel there is improvement to come to the squad and he will hope to add to the squad in the summer as well.

“There’s definitely a case of – and looking at West Brom and their situation – that we are more than capable of doing that if we can get a proper start to the season and maintain consistency.”

The Albion example is a relevant one. There was little between the two teams on Saturday and if anything, the Black Cats are in a better position to challenge the top eight. Yet their Midlands rivals have stolen a march on Sunderland this year.

“West Brom are a great example for us this season,” O’Shea admits.

“They were up in the fifth, sixth at one point and then maybe didn’t win a game for a few weeks and are still in seventh or eighth.

“They are a fantastic example to have. We know ourselves with the squad this manager is building, if we can finish the season strongly and get the confidence back then we are more than capable of doing that as well.

“That’s what the manager wants and believes in too.”

Now is not the time to navel gaze, though.

One of Sunderland’s biggest assets is their honesty, and while there is always accountability for mistakes no one will hold a grudge.

With so many big games to come, they will need that unity of spirit and purpose.

“We are an honest bunch of lads, if somebody comes in and says ‘sorry’ then they are told you don’t have to be saying that.

“If somebody scores a hat-trick, then all well and good, but behind it there’s lads behind it who have put in the crosses.

“There’s a good unit here and we have to keep that going.”