SUNDERLAND boss Mick McCarthy hailed striker Kevin Kyle after he shrugged off a dead leg and the attentions of the Walsall defence to fire the Black Cats into the heart of the promotion race last night.

Kyle scored Sunderland's second, and set up the third for Marcus Stewart, as McCarthy's side overcame a physical Walsall to record a much-needed 3-1 win.

But the burly Scotsman almost didn't make it past the first ten minutes after suffering a bruising challenge from Saddlers centre-half Neil Emblen.

He signalled to the bench in discomfort after tumbling to the turf but, after medical attention, played through the pain barrier to help Sunderland to a precious three points.

"He did very well,'' said McCarthy. "He's battered and bruised but he's effective because he annoys people - not in a nasty way, he's just difficult to play against.

"He's a tough lad and he took some heavy knocks. He almost came off at one point but he's hard to knock down.

"There are better strikers than him out there - the van Nistelrooys and Henrys of this world - but of that ilk, and of that sort of player, he does a great job.

"I was delighted with his professionalism and he got his reward with a great goal."

Julio Arca's 18th-minute opener set Sunderland on their way and the Argentinian was one of a number of players forced to display their versatility in the face of injury problems.

Stephen Wright, Joachim Bjorklund and Gary Breen all missed out as McCarthy was forced to play skipper George McCartney at centre-half and pitch Arca and Darren Williams into the full-back berths.

The Black Cats boss would have been left with egg on his face if things had turned out differently but, despite the reshuffle, Sunderland's fixture backlog left him with no other option.

Last night's game was the first of ten in just 31 days and another blank midweek was simply not an option.

"We had to get this game played otherwise we might have been in trouble," said McCarthy. "I feel sorry that there might have been some fans who came down when the game was called off.

"That's not nice, but we had to get this one out of the way. We're grateful to Walsall for agreeing to play it because, if we hadn't, our schedule might have been getting too much.

"As it is we've got a good win and that sets things up nicely for the cup game on Sunday."

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