Andy Reid's first goal spared Sunderland the wrath of a growling Roy Keane as they headed off for a warm-weather training camp with a 2-1 win over West Ham at the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats flew out on a four-day trip to Spain immediately after this Barclays Premier League clash, and did so having stretched the gap between themselves and the relegation zone to a healthy seven points with their first back-to-back top-flight wins since December 2001.

Keane said: "We cannot relax. If we were in West Ham's position, we could relax, but in the Premier League, you cannot take anything for granted."

Sunderland had to wait until the sixth minute of injury time for Reid to volley home the winner with the Hammers having been reduced to 10 men by a further bout of injury misery.

Keane was delighted with his side's never-say-die attitude as they once again struck late to claim three invaluable points, but he will allow no-one to ease up as he plans for next weekend's trip to struggling Fulham.

"We have another tough game. I was reminded all week that we have never had back-to-back victories - imagine if we won next week. Three in a row would be a miracle."

Opposite number Alan Curbishley was understandably disappointed after seeing his side miss out on a point having been reduced to 10 men when Ljungberg was carried off on a stretcher after three substitutions had been made.

He said: "It may well sum up the season, what has happened to us. We came here with 17 players - the injury list is chronic, and as the game wore on, it got worse.

"We were pulling people all over the place and filling in and to be fair, I thought we had done enough to get a point.

"There was nothing wrong with the ref putting five minutes up - there were plenty of stoppages, but the goal went in in the 96th minute, someone has just told me. It did seem a long time."