Robbin Ruiter heaped praise on his Sunderland teammates at the weekend, as the struggling Black Cats managed to grab a gutsy goalless draw with high-flying table-toppers Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, and the Dutch stopper, who has now kept two clean sheets in his last three Championship games, will be hoping his side's defensive improvement can be the catalyst for a turn of fortunes as the north east outfit get ready for a busy festive period.
With 73% of possession, and 23 shots on goal during the 90 minutes, the statistics show the dominance that Wolves possessed throughout the match, and things weren't made easier when Lee Cattermole was sent off just past the hour mark, but of those 23 shots only four were on target and Ruiter was unsurprisingly appreciative of his defensive players performances, as a point now sees Chris Coleman's men only one point away from pulling themselves out of the relegation zone.
Ruiter told Sunderland's website, "I think we played amazing, we showed great team spirit in what was a difficult game against a really good team. We defended pretty well, and it was just too bad we didn't create a chance or two to win the game, added Ruiter.
A fine save to deny Wolves' star man Diogo Jota in the 87th minute epitomised Ruiter's turn in fortunes, which saw him add a clean sheet to his shutout against Burton Albion a few weeks ago, but the Dutchman gave a shout out to his rearguard by saying, "I kept the clean sheet and I am please with that. Saves are easy to make if our defenders play like they did."
Having conceded a hatful of goals in the first part of the season, Sunderland have tightened up defensively, and have only conceded eight goals in their last six Championship matches, so having let in 30 goals in their previous 15 league matches then there's an obvious improvement, and a more solid unit at the back can aid their path out of the bottom three.
At the attacking end of the pitch goals have not been hard to come by with the Black Cats netting 26 goals already this season, which gives them a much better goal difference than the likes of Burton, Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers and Barnsley, who all are staring at a relegation dogfight, but Coleman will be looking to continue the recent defensive improvements over the coming weeks, and with a brace of home games to come over the next few weeks then the former Welsh manager will hope his side can be out of the drop zone come Christmas day.
They welcome Fulham to the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon, but it's their clash with fellow strugglers Birmingham City on December 23 that will be the real must-win clash, as the Blues have been in dire form of late, losing three of their last four Championship matches, and Coleman is sure to be targeting points from both games, with a draw and a win most likely to see Sunderland continue their progression under the Coleman reign, and it's Ruiter and his defensive unit that can steady a turbulent time at the north east outfit.
