Sunderland FC

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Sbragia: Ferdinand will cope

22 May 2009 - 08:24:22

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Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia has backed Anton Ferdinand to recover from the blunder which led to Monday's defeat at Portsmouth.

Ferdinand misjudged a long ball forward with the scores level at 1-1 at Fratton Park and his mistake resulted in a Phil Bardsley own goal and 3-1 defeat in a game which could have ensured the Black Cats' survival.

Sunderland must now hold their nerve on the final day of the season against Chelsea if they are to avoid slipping into the Championship.

But Sbragia believes Ferdinand will bounce back from his mistake in Sunday's make-or-break encounter.

"Anton has got enough belief in his game. He has made a mistake, it is as simple as that. But he can rectify it on Sunday," he said.

"We have spoken about it and he understands he made a terrible mistake. We all make mistakes in life and unfortunately, he did it on the telly as well.

"When you are down there, things don't seem to go too right for you.

"When it was 1-1, we had a little spell and maybe a couple of little half-chances before they scored. But if we make a mistake like that, we seem to always be punished.

"If it goes the other way, we seem to let teams off the hook and that's something we need to do better with."