Source: SKY_Sports
Ferdinand determined to succeed
Anton Ferdinand believes his own-goal in the dying moments against Manchester United will spur him on even more.
The defender saw a Patrice Evra shot deflect off him and fly past a hapless Craig Gordon in injury-time to deny Sunderland a first win at Old Trafford for more than 40 years.
The former West Ham youngster was restored to the starting XI on Saturday having been benched for the Black Cats two previous games against Birmingham and Wolves following a poor display in the 3-1 defeat to Burnley.
Aside from the own goal Ferdinand looked assured at the back against the likes of Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov and admits that he will use the experience of being dropped to make him more determined in the future.
"It's been a tough two weeks," he told the Northern Echo.
"I was left out of the team last week and could have sulked, but I didn't. I showed what type of a person I am and got on with it.
"People were looking at me to see how I would react, and I think I reacted in the right way. I showed everyone I do want a future at this club.
"I came off the bench last week and did okay, and thankfully the gaffer put me back in for a big game. I thank him for that, and I'd like to think I took my chance with both hands which is what I wanted to do.
"What happened in the final minutes will just make me even more determined to show what type of character I am."
Manager decides
With fellow defender John Mensah expected to have recovered from the calf injury that kept him out against United for the time Liverpool visit the Stadium of Light on October 17th Ferdinand accepts that it is up to Steve Bruce whether he sticks with the same back four that did so well on Saturday.
"It's what the manager sees fit that matters," he added.
"But I thought the whole of the backline played really well. We won a lot of tackles and a lot of headers throughout.
"It wasn't just me and Michael (Turner). I think Kieran (Richardson) is settling into the left-back position well and Bardo (Phil Bardsley) was excellent too.
"We stopped them getting the ball into their front men's feet pretty well. When they tried to get the ball into feet we were tight, and they couldn't run off us.
"It was a great backline performance, a whole team performance as well. But we have to perform like this against the other teams.
"If we can perform like this against Man United we should be able to do it against whoever we play."
