New Sunderland goalkeeper coach Lee Butler believes that Jon McLaughlin can bounce back from the poor run of form he has experienced at the start of the season.

Having been one of Sunderland's most reliable players during the previous campaign, McLaughlin has endured a string of errors, culminating in him spilling Gillingham midfielder Olly Lee's long-range effort to hand the Gills an equaliser in a 1-1 draw in the first round of the FA Cup, which means the Black Cats must now make the long trip down to Priestfield on Tuesday night for the replay.

But having worked with McLaughlin in the past when the pair were both at Bradford City, it seems Butler is confident that the Scotland international will be able to put those recent troubles behind him.

Speaking to The Chronicle about McLaughlin, the former Aston Villa and Wigan stopper said: "Jon's quite a strong character and he'll bounce back from that.

"He had a particularly good season last year and things haven't gone as well this year. But when you do make a couple of mistakes people kind of jump on other goals that have been conceded which might not be his mistakes, but you know people start to look into everything.

"But he's quite strong, he's an international with Scotland and I'm sure he'll be fine."

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Despite that, Butler did admit that he does feel as though McLaughlin should have saved Lee's effort on Saturday, as he continued: "I expected him to save it, and I'm sure he expected to save it, the standard of goalkeeper he is.

"So it did come as a surprise. You look at other things and analyse it. It has come through the wall which might have made a bit of a difference to him. And that's something we'll have to look at as a staff as well.

"But he still should have saved it which he knows. He was a bit unfortunate - it's bounced off his leg and gone in."

One positive Butler did take from McLaughlin's performance against Gillingham was the way he responded to conceding that goal, with the coach adding: "But I was really pleased with his reaction after the mistake. He made a couple of good saves, came and punched and took crosses, when it could have been quite easy for him to stay on his line. So I was I was pleased with his reaction."

Following that replay against Gillingham, Sunderland's attentions will return to league action a week on Saturday, when they host Coventry City at the Stadium of Light.

The Verdict

Sunderland certainly need a response for McLaughlin sooner rather than later.

Results haven't been going the way the Black Cats will have wanted them to under Phil Parkinson, and they are going to need everyone performing to their highest level if they are to turn that around.

With fellow 'keeper Lee Burge currently out injured, it is down to McLaughlin to help give Sunderland that extra element of confidence in their backline, which they can then build on going forward in order to start picking up those all-important points in the race for promotion.

Having done just that last season, there is no reason why McLaughlin can't do it again in the current campaign, and with his contract set to expire at the end of this season, that could be just as important for him, as it is for the whole club.