Sunderland's Costel Pantilimon: 'We have to build on Crystal Palace win'

Sunderland keeper Costel Pantilimon has said that his side have to produce the same resilient display of their victory over Crystal Palace in their upcoming Premier League matches.

The Black Cats kept just their second clean sheet of the season, which allowed Jermain Defoe to score the only goal of the match to fire his team to the three points against Alan Pardew's men at Selhurst Park.

Pantilimon has stressed to his teammates that they need to maintain the quality of their performance, especially at the back, in their next outing against Stoke City.

He told the Sunderland Echo: "We played like a proper team, we defended well and showed good commitment. That is important and we needed these three points. It is very good that we took them at Palace and now we need to continue that form.

"It is important to perform as a team, we showed that and everyone deserves the credit. After a win we need to keep it going and it is important we continue against Stoke.

"They are a very good team with good players. We expect it to be a hard one. We need to perform exactly like we did [on Monday] and be strong and compact and show the same quality."

Sunderland are 18th in the Premier League ahead of their clash against Stoke at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.