Sunderland responding to Wilko treatment

Howard Wilkinson proclaimed “mission accomplished” after Sunderland followed up their midweek success over Arsenal with a dominant victory against Tottenham today.

Kevin Phillips’ first goal of the season set the scene for a 2-0 win crowned by Tore Andre Flo’s strike as Sunderland surged out of the bottom three of the Barclaycard Premiership.

Wilkinson said: “I said in the morning I wanted three things – a clean sheet, a Kevin Phillips goal and a first victory – and I’ve got all of them.

“Let’s hope we’ve started. But we know we’ve got a long way to go – and we’ve got a hard one next week away at Liverpool.

“I said when I took over that there are no miracle cures, but the patient is responding to treatment.

“I was pleased with the character and how we hung in in the first half. The self-belief which confidence breeds wasn’t quite there in the first half.”

Phillips is on the comeback trail after a hernia operation, and his goal was greeted with feverish scenes of delight.

He said: “I think it showed in the celebration what it meant for me.

“It has been frustrating. But I’ve been gradually getting the fitness back, and today was the best it felt.

“In the last four weeks we’ve been learning and learning and learning from Howard Wilkinson, and it’s come right today.

“I felt tired at the end but was delighted to get my reward – and the win. We hope that’s the springboard for us to climb the table.”

Wilkinson, who got his first victory as Sunderland boss with the 3-2 defeat of Arsenal in the Worthington Cup, added: “It’s the end of a great week, and all the players and staff deserve great credit for all their hard work.

“Once we got the first goal we ignited the crowd. Maybe now they’ll go home with a bit more optimism – and they’ll come back expecting to give a bit more.

“We need the crowd here to be the good crowd we know it can be.

“Everyone was delighted with Kevin’s goal – you could see from the players’ reaction. Many people would not credit Tore for his goal. He’s got terrific skill but showed strength and determination.”

Tottenham manager Glenn Hoddle said: “I didn’t think we played our best, and there were a couple of key moments which made the difference.

“If Simon Davies’ effort had gone in – and perhaps he should have scored - that would have put us in the driving seat.

“But Sunderland kept going at it, and the second goal going in too quickly for us was the killer blow.

“We weren’t at our best, and sometimes when you’re not at your best you have to churn a result out – but we couldn’t do that today.

“We’ve got a derby at Arsenal next week, so there’s no better way to put things right.”

“We were missing Jamie Redknapp with a virus. But Darren Anderton came in and he’s an international, so we can’t have any excuses there.

“I thought Darren did very well, considering he’s not played at this level for three months.”