Keane impressed with Black Cats’ ‘perseverance and desire’

SUNDERLAND manager Roy Keane praised the character of his side after an impressive 2-0 win at Leicester in the Coca-Cola Championship.

The Black Cats were made to wait but took the points with two goals in the space of four minutes from Tobias Hysen and David Connolly.

Only Leicester goalkeeper Paul Henderson prevented a much wider margin of victory for the visitors with a string of fine saves, while Sunderland also had 12 shots off-target.

With a number of players out injured, Keane is pleased with the mentality of his squad, who are now three points off the play-offs.

Keane said: “I thought we would get there in the end. We had to be patient and their ‘keeper made some great saves.

“We showed great perseverance and desire and I think we could have had a few more goals.

“A few lads haven’t been happy with me over the last couple of months because they haven’t had the chance to get involved and now is their chance to stake a claim.

“With the injuries, a few have come in and done really well.”

Keane is hopeful of some transfer business in the coming weeks but is satisfied with the progress the club has made since his arrival.

He added: “We’re doing OK but it was always going to take time. Rome wasn’t built in a day as they say but we’re heading in the right direction and we’re making small steps a day at a time.

“This week there might be one or two coming in and one or two going out.

“We have thought over the last couple of months that we need three or four more (players) but it’s easier said than done.”

The Foxes, who were booed off, slip to 18th place in the Championship and are six points above the bottom three.

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy believes his side are genuine promotion contenders after watching them overturn Barnsley 2-0 at Molineux.

That result lifted Wanderers one place to ninth in the Championship table and they now lie only one point outside the play-off places.

McCarthy said: “We want to get promoted, there is no point dressing that up.

“We want to be in the promotion shake-up at the end of the season.

“Is that realistic? Well, we are one point outside the play-offs and on our day we can match anyone.”

Wolves captain Karl Henry and fellow midfielder Seyi George Olofinjana were the players on target as McCarthy’s men overcame the visitors.

Ipswich substitute Gavin Williams grabbed a last-minute winner as Coca-Cola Championship leaders Birmingham suffered their first defeat in seven games.

It looked like Steve Bruce’s side would survive a relentless Ipswich onslaught to earn a point but Williams popped up to stroke home Gary Roberts’ cross from inside the six-yard box late on.

The defeat allowed Derby to keep up the pressure with a 2-1 win over fellow promotion challengers Preston.

The Rams moved above their hosts to within three points of Birmingham after two goals from Steve Howard at Deepdale.

Howard struck either side of half-time, the second a penalty, before David Nugent pulled one back for the Lilywhites after 79 minutes.

At the opposite end of the table, bottom side Southend made a fine start to the new year with a surprise 3-1 win over West Brom.