Manager Reaction @ Forest

Sunderland manager Roy Keane was pleased to see his player grind out a win after going behind to Robert Earnshaw freekick.

Phil Bardsley scored the equaliser to get Sunderland back on level terms and David Healy got the winner in the first half of extra time.

Keane told Sunderland`s official site “It was a cracking cup tie but our performance was not that great, I thought our general play was poor. Forest were outstanding, physically they were very tough and they play football the way it should be.”

“I’m pleased with the result. Credit to Forest for making it hard but credit to us, we stuck in there. Sometimes cup football is about just getting through.”

“There were pluses and minuses. We can play a lot better but the positive thing is the result, we showed good character. Some of my players left a good impression on me.”

“We had chances in the first half, we made it hard for ourselves but we scored a great second goal. If we had lost, we would have had no one to blame but ourselves.”

“We made a mistake with their goal but after that we dug deep and defended well.”

“There are a few injuries – one or two lads went down with cramp. Steed has a problem, David Healy got a blow at the end, but you expect a physical challenge, we’ll assess the situation tomorrow.”

“Djibril had cramp after about 70 minutes. Ideally, we would have not played him for that long. We were really down to 10 men in extra time. Our back four deserve a lot of credit for hanging in extra-time.”

“We’re through to the third round and we’re pleased. I felt we just about edged it.”

“We lost Kieran in training yesterday, he was not fit to travel, and Steed, Djibril and Healy have picked up injuries. You need a big squad. We are two weeks into the season and we are being tested already.”

“It would be nice to get some sort of run together, get some momentum.”

Vital Sunderland Says

It great to our first cup game under Keane he seem to have finally decided to go for it in the cup game with him fielding a very strong side.