Ruiter: Such a sweet feeling to get that win

Ending Sunderland’s long wait for a league win was the “best feeling in the world” for Robbin Ruiter.

But the goalkeeper insists this is only a start and the Black Cats have to build on Saturday’s 2-0 Championship win over Burton Albion.

It has been a difficult few weeks for Sunderland and Ruiter, who was at fault for both goals against Millwall in the 2-2 draw eight days earlier.

But the Black Cats laid some demons to rest at Burton, with the first league win in 16 games and a first clean sheet of the campaign. New boss Chris Coleman has kept faith with Ruiter since taking charge, despite his blunders against Millwall, and the Dutchman has since produced two far more convincing displays, against Aston Villa and Burton.

“It is the best feeling in the world,” said Ruiter (pictured). “We had to wait for it for a while, we needed this win.

“We played well, we didn’t give too many chances away – one shot first half, a header over the crossbar – but we played well and deserved this win.

“We haven’t had much luck in the past few weeks. Finally we made it to the end and got a really good win.

“It is really important that we stay together. We had a couple of rough weeks, including myself, so it is important to stick together.

“The new manager has giveneveryonetheconfidence and he puts out a plan how he wants to play.

“We can still improve a lot, this is a start, we can build on this.”

Sunderland, now thirdbottom and two points from safety, host Reading at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, having not won at home in 20 games, an English record.

Ruiter added: “We are still in a hard situation in the league, let’s build on this and hopefully we can win a lot more games. “The fans were incredible. “These are rough times for them as well, they all love their club, the players love the club. It has been a hard time and we deserved this win but the fans did especially.

“Let’s give them a home win next week, that is what we are aiming for.”