Gus Poyet has called on his Sunderland players to learn from their mistakes this season in order to push on.

The Black Cats, who spent much of the campaign inside the Premier League relegation zone, climbed to safety last night with a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion.

The win at the Stadium of Light was Sunderland's fourth in a row - something which they have not achieved since December 2000.

"We don't want to go down, so we need to make sure that we don't make the same mistakes that we have been making for the last two or three years," Poyet is quoted as saying by the Belfast Telegraph.

"Can I go another year like these seven months? No. I'm strong, but I don't want to die, I don't want to have a heart-attack, I don't want to lose any more hair than I have lost already.

"I want to have a season where I can relax and see my team playing football week in, week out. Are you going to win the league? No, but we need to make sure we don't go another season like the last two or three because when you play with fire, in the end, you get burnt and we don't want to do that."

Sunderland are now 14th in the league table.