Keane tries to avoid 2nd season syndrome

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SUNDERLAND, Aug 10(AFP): They say the second season is always harder than the first, but if that's true, Sunderland fans are in for a pretty miserable time of it. Actually, the statistics suggest it isn't as common an ailment as it may seem: Reading last season were only the fifth side ever to be relegated from the Premier League in their second season after promotion.

But that doesn't mean that there is no reason to fear that other teams might work a side out or that players might fade once the novelty of the top division has worn off.

Last season there were the odd surprises - a 3-0 drubbing at Wigan, for instance, and a 1-0 win at Aston Villa - but essentially Sunderland won the games they expected to win, drew the games they expected to draw, and lost the games they expected to lose, and so stayed up.

Given the traumas of their previous two seasons in the top flight, which brought embarrassing relegations with a combined total of 34 points, that was good enough, but there is a demand for something more than survival this time round.