Nyron Nosworthy wary of effect of the Tigers

Dec 19 2008 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

NYRON Nosworthy admits it would be “unthinkable” for Sunderland to go down this season, but believes the form of weekend opponents Hull City has left the relegation trapdoor open for one of the Premier League’s established names to drop into the Championship.

The defender’s warning should focus minds ahead of the trip to the KC Stadium, with Ricky Sbragia’s side still in the thick of a relegation fight despite their crushing victory over the seemingly doomed West Brom last weekend. With the bottom half of the Premier League as congested as it has been for a decade, the Black Cats find themselves among a clutch of established top-flight names involved in a battle for survival.

Blackburn’s status in the domestic game’s elite division seems the most in peril, but big spending Tottenham, Manchester City, Newcastle and Sunderland themselves are all in desperate need of victories over the festive period to banish the prospect of sliding into the Championship. The Black Cats began their march towards mid-table with a win over the Baggies, but Nosworthy (pictured left) has counseled against getting carried away ahead of an equally important trip to East Yorkshire tomorrow.

“The West Brom win was a massive win for the club. It’s been a long-time coming and it was welcome but it’s nothing to get carried away with,” he said. “I think we all know it’s

going to be a hard season – if you look at the table there are about ten teams within about three points of each other.

“If we can show a bit of consistency and get a couple of wins over Christmas we’ll pull away from that part of the table and then we can focus on trying to get into the top half.

“But that’s easier said than done and I think one of the ‘big teams’ will go down this season because the so-called smaller teams like Hull and Stoke are pulling away and making it harder for everyone else.

“Really that’s fantastic for the league - usually by now you’ve seen the three promoted teams down there and struggling but that’s not the case this season.

“It could be anyone at this point and that includes a few teams where it’s unthinkable that they could go down – us included. Fair play to Hull for what they’ve done though – it’s good for the league.”

With the Tigers returning to the KC Stadium on the back of a morale-boosting draw against Liverpool, Nosworthy knows that the Black Cats’ back four can expect to be bombarded early.

He believes Sunderland must adopt a counter-attacking strategy similar to the one that nearly reaped rewards against Manchester United to secure the three points.

“Hull’s confidence will be sky high after the results they’ve been getting,” he said. “They play high-tempo football, they’ll be flying at us from the off in their own back garden. But I think we have enough in our team to close things down and play some good counter-attacking football.”

Victory for Sunderland would also strengthen the hand of caretaker boss Sbragia, who Nosworthy feels has been excellent since taking over the first team.

The amiable defender admits he was “shocked” at the resignation of Roy Keane and saw few clues that the manager was on the verge of ending his association with Sunderland.

And, while Nosworthy and his colleagues have been careful not to denigrate the achievements of the former boss, he admits that his campaign has been made “frustrating” because he has been in and out of the team.

“It’s been an annoying season. I’ve missed games and it hasn’t always been injuries – sometimes it’s been selection,” he said.

“My main goal is to stay fit to be available for selection.”

Keane, meanwhile, was yesterday handed an official FA warning following an incident during the 5-0 defeat at Chelsea on November 1.

Keane, who admitted a charge of improper conduct, approached referee Martin Atkinson in the tunnel to complain about two of the goals awarded to Chelsea.