Mike Williamson: “If you ask anyone in the squad, you never shut down, never stop believing.
“You need to have the belief within yourself that you can come into the team at any time.
"That is what the training ground and gym are here for – to make sure you are ready for your chance.
“Football is so unpredictable, you never know what will happen. One day you can be out in the cold, the next you are grabbing the headlines.
“Everyone knows how quickly it can change and I am just trying to take my chance now.
"Darren Bent returns to the North East on Sunday.
“I had a couple of good battles with him when he was at Sunderland and managed to keep him quiet.
“But if you watch him every week, you can see he is a natural goalscorer.
“He is also good in the air and has all the attributes, and we know what he is about.
“Those derbies were all about winning the battles and fortunately we managed to do that and keep him quiet.
"This is a completely different game, however – he has pace, self-belief and he can score from anywhere.
“As for the Champions League, I think I will leave you guys to speculate about that.
"There has been nothing said in the dressing room, we take each game as it comes.
“Our mindset as a group of lads, the only way we can achieve something like that is by working hard and grinding out results. Our mindset has always been like that.”