Thursday 14 January 2016 00:02, UK
Sam Allardyce described his Sunderland side's 4-2 win at Swansea as an 'enormous three points' in their battle to avoid relegation from the Premier League.
The Black Cats took the lead before going 2-1 down on Wednesday night and then recovered to beat a Swansea side reduced to 10 men in the first half.
There were a number of controversial decisions in the game at the Liberty Stadium, with Swansea unhappy at the red card given to Kyle Naughton and left feeling that two of Jermain Defoe's goals were offside, while Allardyce was critical of the decision to award the hosts a penalty.
"I'm not disputing that, it was both ways today," said Allardyce, when asked about the decisions that went in his side's favour.
"At the end of the day, we've played with the situation as it panned out to come back and win the game. That's all we can do. We had our destiny in our own hands today and we've taken the opportunity to win the game.
"For us, it's an unbelievable win because today if you don't win, then make sure you don't lose. It is an enormous, enormous, enormous three points that gives us a lot of encouragement and hope going forward."
Having fallen behind shortly before the break, Allardyce revealed that he instructed his side to adopt unfamiliar tactics in the second half.
"Half-time for me was about the lads doing their jobs properly, about pressing and doing a high press which is not what we normally do away from home but we're playing against 10 men," he added.
"I said, 'we've got to shut them down in their half every time they try and play it', because obviously Swansea still try and play, even with 10 men.
"That's what worked for us in the end and clinical Mr Defoe has won us another game. We're putting that myth to bed about Jermain Defoe can't play up front on his own, because he's won us two games now."
The win means Sunderland are now just a point from safety in the final relegation place and Allardyce was delighted that they have closed the gap to the sides above them.
"Massively, [closing the gap] is what we needed," he said. "We're still 21 games in with only 18 points, so we've made big strides in terms of closing that gap but we've got to continue to chip away to get, first and foremost, to the same amount of points as games - that would be our first aim.
"We've got a very difficult game at Tottenham on Saturday and hopefully we can make this horrendous week we've had a pretty good one - if we can get a result at Tottenham."
