Wise Men Say: It's tighter than lycra on Titus Bramble '“ we must remember Palace win

We had comfortably won the game before half time and I had no nerves about us seeing the game out, a feeling I don’t think I’ve ever had watching The Lads.

We fans are allowed to dwell on such moments, especially since we don’t get very many of them but players have to move on quickly and prepare for the next challenge. Or do they?

David Moyes and his players need all the momentum they can get at the moment. With the relegation battle tighter than lycra on Titus Bramble, any team who puts a string of results together could find themselves the right side of the thick red line. Even this Saturday, a win for Sunderland against Southampton could have us 15th ! Fifteenth!

OK, so any result between Swansea and Leicester on Sunday will quickly see us move back down to at least 16 th but the point still stands. Beat Saints and things will look a whole lot brighter.

So let’s keep the momentum going. Don’t forget about the Palace rout or the hard fought, deserved draw against Tottenham – use them. Use them as a reminder that this team isn’t doomed. A reminder that this team can inflict some serious damage to teams, when they’re not determined to harm themselves.

Most importantly though, it needs to serve as a reminder that the current squad does have some quality in it.

It’s obvious we have not just the best striker in the bottom half, but one of the best in the division. In defence, Lamine Kone is a player who looks back to his best and looks so impenetrable, apparently Donald Trump wants to use him as one man wall on the Mexican border.

Admittedly, that may be fake news. Something which can’;t be faked however, is the enthusiasm and energy of Didier Ndong, who will be more than a match for the very handy Southampton midfield.

Don’t forget the enigmatic Adnan Januzaj either, a player written off by so many fans, that his revival at the weekend was akin to a soap character coming back from the dead.

In a season as bleak as this one, any positivity has to be preserved. I’m not advocating that th management and players simply rock up to the Stadium of Light this weekend and just expect a win, but there’s no need to simply think of the last two games as history and confine them to the past. If anything, they need to make sure those performances remain in the present.

Team spirit counts for so much in Football and the “Strength In Unity” slogan that the clubs social media team have taken on, couldn’t be more appropriate. In the previous two outings, the team have been very much united and looked stronger as result.

Keep that going and Elmer Bernstein’s famous tune may be echoing through Wearside once more.

Seriously, this hope will crush me one day.