Sunderland Football Club News

• Nickname:Black Cats
• Founded:1879
• Manager:Martin O'Neill

• Ground:Stadium of light
• Capacity:48,353

Cats skipper predicts battle

13 Feb 2008 - 07:23:58

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Sunderland captain Dean Whitehead believes the relegation battle could go right to the final game of the season - but is hoping not to be part of it.

The Black Cats boosted their survival hopes with a 2-0 victory over fellow strugglers Wigan Athletic at the Stadium of Light last weekend.

The result pushed the Wearsiders up to 14th place in the table and Whitehead is hoping for more of the same in the coming weeks.

"It's incredibly tight at the moment at the bottom of the league and you'd be hard-pressed to guess what's going to happen," he admitted.

"All we can do is our very best in every match and get clear of the bottom as soon as we can.

"We saw the other week, when we beat Birmingham City and shot up over them in the table, with them dropping towards the relegation zone, just how quickly things can change. It was the same with Wigan on Saturday.

"It's so fluid at the moment that just one win can make a real difference and that's why games against other teams in the same situation are so important.

"A couple of wins and you can be almost out of it. A couple of defeats and you're right back in it.

"The relegation battle could go all the way to the final game of the season because it's so tight, there's really no telling.

"But hopefully we will be the side that strings those good results together and gets clear quite quickly."