Former Sunderland goalkeeper Thomas Myhre is delighted they beat the drop last season.
The 40-year-old believes the run of results were no coincidence or stroke of luck but simply a reward for all of the effort and endeavour put in by head coach Gus Poyet and his players.
"Poyet has done fantastically well." Myhre told safc.com. "When he took over the team were lacking in confidence and belief and when he came in he was able to instill that into players, who were at a real low point in the season.
"Then they got the results they needed by playing well; it was no fluke or stroke of luck, the players and staff worked very hard to achieve their goal and it's something great that they and the fans can look back on."
