Chris Coleman isn’t getting carried away after Sunderland secured their first home win of 2017 on Saturday.
Instead, the Welshman has labelled the Black Cats’ victory over former club Fulham as just a “small gain”, insisting nothing has been achieved yet.
Josh Maja marked his league debut for the club with the game’s only goal, five minutes after Coleman made the bold decision to swap Lewis Grabban and James Vaughan for academy youngsters Maja and Joel Asoro.
And while Maja’s strike provided a major boost on Wearside, Coleman has played the three points down, demanding the “collective effort” from his players must continue in Saturday’s home match against Birmingham City.
“It was a small win,” Coleman stated.
“It was a small gain, but we need to keep building and keep the consistency in our work every day in training.
“We need to keep the organisation we’ve had and we will get away from where we are.
“It has to be a collective effort and it has come from the training ground where the lads have worked their socks off.
“These boys have put a real shift in and it is no coincidence they have got some points,” he continued.
“They really have put a shift in. It has been a great effort up until now but we have got a lot of games still to play and a lot of work to do – especially over this festive period.”