O’Neill looks to new season with safe Sunderland

Martin O’Neill is happy to be watching the fight for Premier League survival from afar as Sunderland’s season ends with a whimper.

The Black Cats boss freely admits he did not expect to be safe in mid-table at this point in the campaign when he took over from Steve Bruce in December.

The point they took from Saturday’s 2-2 home draw with relegation-battling Bolton was enough to mathematically confirm their safety, something which has not really been in doubt since the recovery inspired by the Derryman took them on a run of nine wins and two draws in 16 games.

However, as he reflected upon a sixth successive league outing without a victory, he was able to take a philosophical view.

O’Neill said: “You look at the results today — Wigan have gone and beaten Newcastle United, and teams are fighting for their lives.

“We could so easily have been in that position ourselves here, and we would have been on tenterhooks, really, at the end of the season. I am delighted we haven’t been, but there’s lots to ponder, lots to consider.”

Whatever else will occupy his mind over the next few weeks, O’Neill’s main focus will be the composition of his frontline for the new campaign.

Nicklas Bendtner, the man signed on a season-long loan deal from Arsenal by Bruce as Asamoah Gyan made his shock exit to United Arab Emirates side Al-Ain, scored his eighth goal of the campaign to take himself into a three-way tie with Stephane Sessegnon and Sebastian Larsson as leading scorers, a telling statistic which O’Neill knows must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

The Denmark international is unlikely to be on Wearside next season and with Gyan’s future too seemingly lying elsewhere, the Black Cats have major work to do. Bolton’s need, of course, is more pressing, and the point they claimed in the north-east may yet prove to be hugely significant to their hopes of securing another of Premier League football.

Kevin Davies volleyed them into the lead after 26 minutes and then rescued a point with a 70th minute header after Bendtner and Irish winger James McClean had turned the game around.