ANTHONY O’Connor reckons City are no longer a soft touch.

Back-to-back clean sheets – and a first win under David Hopkin – have lifted spirits for the eagerly-awaited visit of Sunderland to Valley Parade tomorrow.

O’Connor also believes the head coach has given City a steelier makeover after a difficult opening couple of months of the season.

He said: “The gaffer noticed that we were a bit of a soft touch in the weeks before he came in.

“That’s not to say we’ve got soft players. We just looked too easy as a team to break through and score against.

“That’s not just down to the defence but the whole team. We were concentrating more on playing nice football than being a hard team to beat.

“The gaffer has instilled that desire to keep the ball out the back of the net and I think you saw that at Wimbledon.”

O’Connor, who skippered the side to victory in midweek, has noticed a change in mood after putting paid to a run of five straight defeats.

But having clambered out of the bottom four, he stressed they cannot afford to switch off now ahead of a showdown with League One’s title favourites.

“Two clean sheets in a row and four points is a nice feeling but we can’t get carried away,” added the Irishman. “It’s only two good results and we’ve got a long season to go.

“We’ve got to keep doing that week in, week out. We can’t just be happy with three points and then go a long time before we win another game.

“I said the Blackpool game was massive. If we’d won that, I think we would have picked up more results in the following weeks.

“But being 2-0 with six minutes to go and losing put a bit of a downer on us.

“When the first win comes it’s massive and that built from Saturday after getting the first point for a while.

“Being hard to beat doesn’t just come from me, Ryan (McGowan) and Nat (Knight-Percival) at the back. It’s about everyone on the pitch knowing your positions and beating the man you’re up against.

“Tuesday was a really good team performance against a physical side.

“Wimbledon have got a lot of big lads on the pitch, even the two central midfielders are six foot plus. But I think we dealt with it well.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the boys. It’s not the nicest place to go, Wimbledon are good at being physical and getting balls in the box.

“We stood up to it man-for-man. There are a lot of young lads in our squad but I think on that night they became men.

“We managed to keep a clean sheet but now it’s back to the training ground again.”

Valley Parade will be bouncing with a large travelling support expected from Sunderland. But O’Connor hopes City can give their own fans something more to cheer.

“They have been brilliant for us. But obviously they’ve been unhappy with the run of results lately, so it was nice to get the three points for them in midweek.

“It wasn’t the best football game to watch. But the win was the most important thing in the position we’re in and I’m sure our fans went back up with smiles on their faces.

“Now we want to build on that and hopefully start climbing the table.

“It shouldn’t be hard to get yourself up for this game.”