Soccer-Sunderland poor but effective, says Advocaat

Sunderland arrived at Goodison Park without an away league win this year and spent much of the first half on the back foot despite fielding a front three of Danny Graham, Jermain Defoe and Connor Wickham.

But Graham's deflected goal gave Sunderland the lead against the run of play early in the second half before Defoe scored late on to secure a crucial three points and move Advocaat's side out of the bottom three with 36 points from 35 matches.

"It was good we won, it was not our best game but it was effective. It could be very important," Advocaat told the BBC.

"It was not our best performance but we can improve. It is all about results. I changed something at halftime because I was not happy about some performances.

"Everton were the better side, but it is all about winning, giving 100 percent and showing the fans what they want and that is what we did.

"In the last three games we have seven points. They (the players) gave everything, they all want to stay up and the fans were great. They give the players something extra."

Sunderland host Leicester City next weekend before visiting Arsenal and champions Chelsea and goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon said Saturday's victory at Everton will give them confidence in the fight for survival.

"We win together, we lose together. That is the most important thing," he told BT Sport. "We did our job and... the next game is the most important thing. We showed our energy, we looked like a proper team." (Reporting By Michael Hann; Editing by Ken Ferris)