Chris Maguire has this message for Sunderland fans as he reflects on festive run, Fleetwood point and his goalscoring form

Chris Maguire hopes Sunderland have turned a corner over the festive period as they aim to claw their way back up the league and into the promotion mix.
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The Sunderland players and manager Phil Parkinson have come under intense fire from angry fans in recent weeks following a nine-game winless run that saw them drop to their lowest ever league placing of 15th in League One.

Victory at Doncaster Rovers saw spirits raised with Sunderland backing that up with a point at Fleetwood Town on New Year’s Day.

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Maguire admits it has been a ‘tough’ spell but hopes Sunderland can build on a four game unbeaten run when Lincoln City visit on Saturday.

Chris Maguire gets a shot away.Chris Maguire gets a shot away.
Chris Maguire gets a shot away.

Maguire, who scored the equaliser from the penalty spot against Fleetwood, added: “It is tough for everybody. We are not coming out to get beat, we are trying.

“Hopefully we can turn a corner now.

“We know it hasn’t been good enough, it is up to us to change it.

People can see the spirit we have and we kept fighting to the end and there was only going to be one winner, if the fans keep turning out and backing us - yes we know they are frustrated - but stick with us and we’ll come out on top.

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“They are a big plus point for us, they are a massive following, nobody else in the league has that.

“It is frustrating for them at times, of course, but if they keep getting behind us then we will come out on top.”

Maguire added: “I have worked on my fitness. Start of the season I felt good, had a dip and lost some fitness, kept my head down, kept working away and now it is paying off.”

Sunderland are 13th in the third tier ahead of the weekend, the Black Cats four points adrift of the play-off places with a couple of games in hand on some of the sides above.

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Reflecting on the point at Fleetwood, Maguire added: “I thought it was a great team effort, there was a great spirit, we didn’t let it drop, we came out fighting, and it looked like there was only going to be one winner.”