Gus Poyet challenged Sunderland to build on their first Premier League win for six months as the manager savoured a derby victory over Newcastle United.
The Black Cats climbed off the bottom of the Premier League table by ending a 13-game wait for a three-point haul as they inflicted a 2-1 defeat on their north-east rivals thanks to a stunning late winner from substitute Fabio Borini.
After victory in his first home game in charge saw Sunderland leapfrog Crystal Palace, a delighted Poyet said: "I didn't like looking at the table before, but we're off the bottom now after beating our biggest rivals.
"It's a great feeling but now we need to keep that going and build on it," added the Uruguayan, who took over at the Stadium of Light after controversial former manager Paolo di Canio was sacked earlier this month.
"From now on there are no excuses. We needed a lift and there's no better lift than this result.
"I'm going to sleep very well tonight," said Poyet after Sunday's match. "I feel like I've played the whole 90 minutes. I've chased balls, and appealed for every decision.
"In fact, I was close to running to the corner to celebrate with the lads when Fabio scored, but I thought better of it in the end because I needed to get the message across to the players to concentrate."
Poyet now has 10 wins in 17 games against Newcastle as a player and a coach.
"I'm sure they're going to hate me even more now," the Uruguayan joked.
"I've gone back to basics since coming in. Sometimes if you think too much you can complicate things so we've talked to the players to search for solutions and to remind them how important they are."
Borini fired home a memorable winner with his first goal since joining from Liverpool on a season's loan during the summer.
Poyet revealed the Italian substitute was close to starting the game, and the 22-year-old match-winner said: "I hope this is the turning point for our season.
"We gave everything to come away with the win, and hopefully we'll go on to get a few more victories now. If we can reproduce this kind of form on a regular basis I think we'll be okay. To score a winner in a game like this is unbelievable."
Newcastle looked destined for at least a point after Mathieu Debuchy's first goal since a £5.5 million ($8.9 million) January move from Lille early in the second-half cancelled out Steven Fletcher's early opener for the home side.
But the visitors were left to rue missed chances and defensive frailties caused by the absence through injury of their regular centre-back pairing of Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor.
Newcastle have an immediate chance to bounce back with the midweek League Cup tie at home to Manchester City, and manager Alan Pardew said: "We're left with a feeling of disappointment because having bossed the game for long periods to lose to such a late goal is hard to take.
"We didn't deserve to lose because after we equalised we looked the more likely to go on and win it.
"We'll assess Taylor's hamstring injury and see what timescale we're looking at.
"As far as Coloccini goes, he won't be ready for Manchester City, but hopefully we'll see him against Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday."
Source: AFP
