Vito Mannone hails Sunderland patience

Vito Mannone has hailed the patience of his Sunderland teammates after the Black Cats picked up their first Premier League win of the season on Saturday.

Gus Poyet's side ended a six-game winless streak by beating Stoke City 3-1 at the Stadium of Light yesterday afternoon.

"We kept playing well, we kept positive and we kept focussing on our job and finally we've notched a good three points," the Italian goalkeeper told Sky Sports News.

"It's a good win but at the same time we knew we did quite well in the other games so we kept positive and we kept working on our problems and I think today we sorted it out."

Goals from Connor Wickham and Steven Fletcher, either side of a Charlie Adam equaliser, helped the hosts into a 2-1 half-time lead, before Fletcher made the result safe with his second on 79 minutes.

Victory lifted Sunderland, who had drawn five and lost one prior to the visit of Stoke, up to 11th in the Premier League table.