We owe it to our fans to be merciless, warns Gordon

Apr 29 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

CRAIG Gordon has warned Bolton Wanderers that Sunderland have no intention of giving them a helping hand in their battle to avoid the drop when they travel to the Reebok Stadium next weekend.

Sunderland’s 3-2 win over Middlesbrough last weekend has guaranteed their own survival, but Bolton do not have such a luxury as they prepare for the final two games of a difficult campaign.

With a trip to title-chasing Chelsea on the last day of the season, Wanderers desperately need to take all three points against Sunderland.

However, although the Black Cats have little to play for, Gordon knows there is no chance they will be able to take things easy with Roy Keane breathing down their necks.

“There is no such thing as a meaningless game when you’ve got Roy Keane as your manager,” said Gordon, who after a difficult start to his career at the Stadium of Light has fully justified the £9m Keane paid for to sign him for Hearts last summer. “I don’t think there’s any chance he would let anybody relax and not give 100% for the team. I’m sure as well that his selection will be designed to go there and try and win the game for our pride and the supporters as well.

“They’ve been fantastic, they’ve been behind us all season, even when the results haven’t been great. There’s no chance we’ll let a few thousand of them travel and not give as much as we can for them.

“I still think it will be a very hard game. They’re fighting for their lives as well so they definitely won’t take pity on us because we’re already safe. We’ll have to be right up for that one and be ready for a battle because that’s what they’ll make it.” Having initially talked of aiming for a top half of the table finish following their return to the top flight, Sunderland have succeeded in their real objective this season which was to avoid another immediate return to the Championship.

Gordon knows nothing is likely to stand still at the club this summer, with ambitious plans already being drawn up by Keane and chairman Niall Quinn to ensure the Wearsiders have a chance to make even more progress next term.

“There’s a couple of games to go, but it’s been a successful season,” added Gordon. “We’re safe now and that was the main objective. It’s great to finally get there. It’s a bit of a relief. We’re satisfied and quite happy with the way we went about it, particularly over the second half of the season.

“We picked up a lot of points and we’re very happy with the way things are going. I think we’re progressing and hopefully we can improve further.

“This has got to just be our first step, I’m sure the manager wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s job done for the first season, we knew we had to get here and stay here. We’ve done that now, the next stage is: Can we go a bit further and take it on next season?”