Gregory's mountaineers fall in foothills

Derby County 0 Sunderland 1

The sound that almost matched the celebrating Sunderland supporters at the end of this match was the cacophony of crashing optimism. At 1pm, on the radio, John Gregory was throwing Derby County forward 18 months to the possibility of campaigns in Europe, at 5pm the destinations seemed less exotic. To paraphrase the saying: Pride Park comes before a fall.

The disappointment on the Derby faces was profound. They had perceived hope in the appointment of Gregory but, two games into his managership, reality had intruded. With 12 games to go they are six points adrift of the Premiership's positions of safety and if you had to predict where the Rams will be in the future then Gresty Road rather than San Siro would be your preference.

Not that Derby had played particularly badly. They were at least as good as Sunderland, but when you have, in Gregory's words, a mountain to climb, then you should at least be conquering the foothills of meeting fellow strugglers at home. They had little luck, and in their position they need that more than anything.

"There was a game crying out for us to win today and we didn't," moaned Gregory, who maintained he was still optimistic Derby will escape relegation. "That's what this game's about. One minute you're up in the air, full of the joys of spring, and then you get a kick in the lower regions that you have to deal with."

That fickleness was underlined by two throws of the dice. In the 59th minute Luciano Zavagno crashed the ball against the Sunderland bar and Malcolm Christie's over-careful follow-up was cleared off the line by Claudio Reyna. Twenty-one minutes later Michael Gray's shot could have rebounded anywhere but it fell to Niall Quinn and from five yards – "I thought if I miss this I'll never be allowed back into Sunderland" – the outcome was a formality

Those two moments of chance rewarded and maimed in equal measure. Gregory had to clutch at the straw of learning more about players in adversity while Peter Reid, the beleaguered Sunderland manager, suddenly had his first win since Boxing Day and breathing space to look forward.

"When you're the boss you've got to take the stick," he said cheerfully. "You get all the accolades when you are doing well, so as long it's not offensive it's not a problem.

"There has been a minority of fans who have been quite vociferous but the majority are right behind the football club. It's great to get the points. I would love to have got them against Newcastle in two weeks' time but I'll accept a win anywhere."

Quinn, who had not scored since that Boxing Day success, was equally happy to accept the available scraps. "We know we're good enough to be playing further up the league and we didn't want to be dragged into a dog-fight," he said. "Now the crowd are singing our praises and it's a long time since that happened." Are you in a false position? "Do you mean we're worse or better?" he replied mischievously. On a day that might have ended very differently it was a better answer than he probably realised.

Goal: Quinn (79) 0-1.

Derby County (4-4-2): Oakes 7; Barton 5, Riggott 5, Higginbotham 5, Zavagno 6; Ducrocq 6, Lee 5, Powell 5 (Boertien 5, 53), Morris 6 (Burton 5, 76); Christie 6, Ravanelli 5. Substitutes not used: Kinkladze, O'Neil, Grant (gk).

Sunderland (4-4-2): Sorenson 5; Haas 5, Bjorkland 4 (Williams 5, 75), Craddock 5, Gray 7; McAteer 7, Schwarz 6, Reyna 6, Arca 6 (Bellion 5, 79); Quinn 5 (Kyle 5, 85), Phillips 5. Substitutes not used: Kilbane, Williams, Macho (gk).

Booking: Sunderland: Phillips.

Referee: G Poll (Tring) 7.

Man of the match: Gray.

Attendance: 31,771.