Keane pleased with his teams effort

Sunderland manager Roy Keane was pleased with the result against Portsmouth and was quick to praise his team.

Roy Keane`s side needed a result against Pompey to keep their survival hope alive and Kieran Richardson came up trumps was two quality goals.


Keane told safc.com "I`m not sure if that was the best performance of the season, but it was very good."

"A clean sheet and two goals, which could have been more, means it was a real good team effort. It was a very good day for us."

"This was a good response to last weekend, but I knew the players would do that. There had been negative energy from people outside the club, but our home form hasn`t been too bad. We were ready for the game."

"Kenwyne has been a big plus for us. There are some players we struggle to do well without and he`s one of them and he wasn`t even properly fit. Maybe only 60 or 70 per cent fit. I don`t like to ask players to play when they`re like that, but I`m pleased with him."

"Kieran came to the club for what you saw today. He`s one of the quickest players I`ve come across over five or ten yards. He can get you a goal. It`s a massive plus. We`ve had to throw him in."

"Jonny Evans has cramp and he`s getting a big fine for that! Maybe players aren`t as fit as they used to be. I thought Jonny did very well for us last week, too, he hasn`t played a lot of football, but he did very well again today, he and Nyron. They have a good understanding."

"It's really nice for us to have a clean sheet. Ask any goalkeeper. Craig looked a lot more assured today. He came for balls and when you see that, your keeper punching one or two away, it`s great for the team to get the ball back up the pitch."

"I see the players every day and I knew that performance was in there. I know what they`re capable of, we`ve got young players and I know we`re going to be inconsistent sometimes."

"To be a football team you have to tackle and we did that a lot better than last week, it`s such an important part of football. We put Portsmouth off their stride. You`ve got to keep sticking with and that`s where the hard work comes in."

"There are three mini tables and it`s important we finish top of our league. We`re still in touch. It`ll be nip and tuck between now and the end of the season. A suspension for Danny Collins doesn`t help, but these things are sent to try us."

"Kenwyne has a real chance of being a top, top player because he`s a team player. Imagine what he`s like when he`s fit."
"In the transfer market, no one has turned us down. There were only two players who turned us down last summer, Baines and Nugent and that was fair enough, but we didn`t speak to any players last week."

"It`s cat and mouse. We`re looking to bring in a couple, but it`s important we concentrate on the players who did so well for us today."



Vital Sunderland Says

An important win for us and now we need some consistency. Hopefully Keane can work his magic in the transfer market this week.