Kyle back in training

Mick McCarthy has revealed that striker Kevin Kyle has resumed some light training in the hope that it'll help him avoid another operation on his troublesome hip injury - which would almost certainly rule him out for the remainder of this season.

Kyler hasn't played since our 1-0 midweek away defeat to Reading back in August and had an operation in the autumn. But it didn't do the job to sort out the injury 100% and the threat of another operation was looming, so the Scot resorted to total rest in an effort to help things settle down.

Kyle resumed light training again in the last week with few problems, and McCarthy says he hopes this is the beginning of Kyle's recovery.

"It got to the stage where it wasn't going to do him any harm doing some training and we just have to monitor his progress carefully," Mick told the Evening Chronicle.

"Having done nothing for as long as he has, we're just hoping the injury isn't going to come back with a vengeance. We're hoping the improvement will be gradual from now on.

"There was talk of him having an injection but the way he's going at the moment we'll try to avoid that. We'll see how he is, discuss his situation with the physios and the specialists and see how he is.

"At least he's training. It's a good sight for all of us."

Sunderland 1-0 Sheff Utd

An important characteristic of many promotion-winning sides is not only that they can win games by playing well but that they can convert average performances into deserved wins. Obviously, the former is good but this ability to pick up 3 points with hard-fought, tough performances can make the difference come the end of the season. Today, it was one of those performances that means Sunderland now lie in a very health position just off the top two due to a goal from the in form Marcus Stewart just before half time.

Encouraged by a good win, this time from a great performance, against Derby last week McCarthy, quite rightly opted to name the same side to take on a similar task. This meant the beefed up midfield of Whitley and Robinson once again provided cover for the youthful inexperience, yet obvious talent of Collins and Collins. And the same team, again produced a similar opening to another fragmented opening exchange of play. The game, like the team sheets suggest, was to be played out in midfield, which meant a scrappy period of play with very few chances. However those chances that were created were good chances. Elliott was put clean through by Stewart before firing his clever lob against the underside of the bar and, after a failed penalty claim, Sunderland were awarded an indirect kick for a back-pass from 3 yards out which they failed to get past the barricade of United players in front of them. These good chances, although few and far between, continued to be created with both Elliott for Sunderland and Jagielka for Sheffield failing to convert. This spell of missed chances, however was broken just 5 minutes before half time when, after a superb step over and subsequent whipped cross, was expertly angled in by Stewart to give the Lads a deserved lead going into the break.

At this point it could be asked what was wrong about the Sunderland performance but all the really bad spells came in the second half. In recent games, it has been obvious that it’s McCarthy’s side that have reacted better to the half time talking to but on this occasion, it was Warnock who brought the best out of his side for the second period. Whilst Sheffield turned the pressure up with some hefty exchanges, this incensed the Sunderland players and fans alike and seemed to take their mind of the game somewhat. United were able to break on two separate occasions, only stopped by lunging fouls just outside the box. Myhre was twice forced to save from Harley and Forte in a period of intense Sheffield pressure. Although, it was not all one way traffic. Brown should have secured the win after he received a square ball from Whitehead but, with the goal at his mercy, he twice shot straight at Kenny. With this though, the pressure on Sunderland’s defence did certainly seem to lighten. Afterwards the Blades once again found it hard to create and failed to find an equalizer, even with what seemed like hours of injury time being played.

Even though it wasn’t pretty, with results going our way, these points, more than many others, could prove very important come the end of season. In essence, it doesn’t matter how you do it, but what you achieve. Promotion clearly isn’t going to be decide on quality of performances but who has the grit and determination to grind out points just like this.

Man Of The Match: Marcus Stewart
Matthew Woolston