Sunderland Football Club News

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

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

Keane proud of Cats efforts

05 Oct 2008 - 10:11:26

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Sunderland boss Roy Keane urged his players to be proud of their performance despite seeing Arsenal salvage a point with a stoppage time equaliser in Saturday's 1-1 draw.

The Black Cats had looked on course to upset the title challengers at the Stadium of Light as substitute Grant Leadbitter fired them ahead in the 86th minute.

But the Wearsiders saw their hopes of three points dashed right at the death as Cesc Fabregas headed home a dramatic equaliser with just seconds remaining.

"I said well done to all the players, I thought we were outstanding. There were lots of positives, I can't think of many negatives," said Keane.

"We had good discipline, good shape, we did some good stuff and we defended well.

"We have drawn against one of the top four teams in the league and we matched them today.

"None of our players should feel disappointed, they should be delighted, they played very well. I'm not disappointed that we conceded in stoppage time.

"The game is not over until the final whistle, anything can happen late on.

"We couldn't do it at the end, the corner goes in, they had plenty of bodies in and they are a big, strong team.

"It ends up with Fabregas scoring - one of the smallest players on the pitch - that's the way it goes sometimes.

"We'll learn from it, we are making progress, we played with a good shape and mentality."