Sunderland FC

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Sbragia targets Cats survival

27 Feb 2009 - 07:41:57

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Sunderland boss Ricky Sbragia has urged his side to maintain their fine run of recent form and avoid being sucked back into a relegation battle.

The Black Cats are eight points above the drop zone with 12 games of the Premier League season to go.

Sbragia told the Sunderland Echo: "We've got that little cushion of points now, which is nice, but we'd like to keep that cushion as much as possible. We don't want to give it up.

"And for the next few weeks, for me, it's all about trying to keep that gap between ourselves and the bottom three from narrowing too much.

"We're not at the stage where the games are starting to run out just yet, but the longer we can keep a healthy gap, the greater the confidence we'll have."

Meanwhile, striker Kenwyne Jones is confident of having shaken off a knee injury to face Liverpool this weekend.

He added: "It feels a bit sore at the moment. I took a knock at Arsenal and tried to run it off, but I couldn't continue.

"It was a shame, because it was a big game and I wanted to keep going to help the team get a great result.

"It wasn't to be for me, but I'll get treatment and I'm pretty sure I'll be fine for the Liverpool game."