Sunderland won Sunday's derby 1-0 thanks to Nick Woltemade's own goal.
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“Words can’t describe,” he said. “Thinking back to the last game, that one hurt. For the fans, we felt like we let them down. We were so determined this time, especially the boys that experienced that day so we’re delighted.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game but we stuck in there, we fought really hard and we thoroughly deserved the win.”
Ballard also said: “There wasn’t much in the game in terms of chances. The first half was great but when you go a goal ahead, it’s about managing the game and I thought we did that really well.
“The boys were brilliant.”