Black Cats never in a crisis, says Anton Ferdinand

Mar 11 2010 by Steve Brown, The Journal

ANTON Ferdinand insists Sunderland were “never in crisis” before Tuesday’s victory over Bolton Wanderers ended a run of 14 Premier League games without a win.

He has had it a good deal worse.

The Black Cats defender was with West Ham when, in May 2007, they required three points at Old Trafford to preserve their top-flight status.

Sunderland’s current plight has been nothing in comparison, not least because of the belief which has continued to resonate throughout the squad and for which Ferdinand has paid tribute to manager Steve Bruce.

As such, Ferdinand claims a “absolutely massive win” – with hints of a return to the form of early-season – was always on the cards, and that while his side remain in a relegation “dogfight”, more of the same will soon see Sunderland edge away from danger.

“That was an absolutely massive win,” said Ferdinand. “After the Fulham game I said that at that point in time, we were either doing well at the back and not scoring goals or scoring goals and not keeping clean sheets.

“We needed to bring it together, and we did that here.

“Some of the attacking was as good as it has been all season. We showed glimpses of what we were like at the start of the season. But that’s only one game. We have to try to maintain that for as long as possible.

“It’s just back to work. We’re obviously happy to get that win under our belts because it’s been a long time coming, but I wouldn’t say it’s a feeling of relief because we always knew it was going to come.

“The belief in the squad is unreal. Maybe it was hard to see that belief in the last couple of games before that, but in training the belief running through the lads has been second to none.