Keane keeping it simple
Roy Keane has ordered his Sunderland players to let the Barclays Premier League table take care of itself, after seeing them boost their survival hopes with a 2-0 win at home to Birmingham.
The Black Cats climbed to the relative safety of 14th place with a precious victory over their fellow strugglers last night.
City dropped to 17th, level on points with Wigan inside the drop zone, but only three points separate the pair from the Wearsiders.
However, Keane insists he can focus only on each game as it comes – his men head for Liverpool at the weekend – rather than the bigger picture.
He said: “It’s amazing; when you win football matches, the league table will take care of itself.
“Everyone gets bogged down with it. You just focus on every game, pick up your results – and before you know it, you are in a decent position.
“We have certainly got to beat the teams around us, and generally speaking that will dictate our season.
“We have got Liverpool, then Wigan. Not long ago, Wigan were here and beat us 3-0 – so they are all tough games.
“Even tonight, it was 2-0 – and if Birmingham had pulled one back with 10, 15 minutes to go, let me tell you, it would have been an interesting finish to the game.
“We stayed solid, and it was a good professional performance. That’s what we need to do in this league.”
Sunderland claimed their fourth league win at the Stadium of Light in six attempts, after taking a 15th-minute lead through Daryl Murphy’s second goal of the season.
But after Craig Gordon had saved from Cameron Jerome towards the end of the first half, it was debutant Rade Prica – a substitute for the injured Dwight Yorke – who took centre stage.
The Swede cashed in on a weak defensive header by Liam Ridgewell to lift a 66th-minute shot over goalkeeper Maik Taylor to claim his first goal for the club.
He might have gone on to claim a hat-trick, but had a second chalked off for handball and then forced a reaction save from Taylor at the death with a firm header.
Keane was delighted with the win on a night when he admitted his side was not at its best, and was particularly pleased for Gordon and his defenders.
He said: “We are always talking about the strikers. But our goalkeeper and our back four, no doubt, will be delighted tonight because they have been heavily criticised.”
For City, it was a night to forget at they prepare for their weekend clash with basement boys Derby.
Assistant boss Roy Aitken said: “It is tight, and we know that. It is going to go to the end.
“There are 14 games left and still a lot of points to play for, so from that point of view it is important that we now look to our home game against Derby at the weekend and do our best to try to pick up a victory.”
