Sunderland coach Dick Advocaat is confident of staving off relegation if his troops use their performance in the 1-1 draw at Stoke City as a blueprint for survival.
Connor Wickham opened the scoring as early as the first minute at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday, before Charlie Adam equalised shortly before the half-hour mark.
The point was not enough to keep the Black Cats outside of the bottom three as they fell behind Hull City and Leicester City and into 18th in the table.
"This was a good point and we have to take it into the next game against Southampton - if we can give that commitment I am very positive about it [staying up]," Advocaat told reporters.
"We have five games to go, everything is open. We will try to be positive to the team, and hopefully they can play like this next week."
Sunderland finish their season with two daunting trips to the capital to face Arsenal on May 20 and Premier League champions elect Chelsea on the final day.
Shane Callaghan
