Malbranque seeks derby tonic

Malbranque: Ready for derby day

Steed Malbranque hopes Sunderland can offer the perfect response to their FA Cup nightmare on derby day.

The Black Cats endured an afternoon to forget on Saturday as they were unceremoniously dumped out of the cup by League One outfit Notts County.

A 2-1 defeat on home soil saw Steve Bruce's side well below their best, with County full value for their impressive win.

Next up for Sunderland is a meeting with another set of Magpies, arch-rivals Newcastle on Sunday.

Having been thumped 5-1 at St James' Park in the first Tyne-Wear derby of the season, it is imperative the Black Cats bounce back this weekend.

Massive blow

Malbranque is confident they can, with the Frenchman of the opinion that victory over Newcastle will help the club's supporters to forget about the shambolic cup showing.

He said: "It's important to move on and get this result out of our system.

"It's a massive blow because we really wanted to have a good cup run. We now have a huge game against Newcastle and it's one we're desperate to win.

"Hopefully, we can put things right in front of our supporters.

"However bad it is, we can't let this result ruin our season. If we can perform well in the league for the rest of the season, people will forget about the cups."