LIKE so many Sunderland players, Kevin Phillips is hoping to put last season's failures firmly to the back of his mind over the next nine months.

The Black Cats' striker is worshipped at the Stadium of Light and was never blamed for the club's struggle against relegation.

But Phillips, Sunderland's highest post-war goalscorer, was still angry with himself for not achieving his usual 20-goal target.

The 29-year-old could only find the net 13 times last season and he was never able to score more than one in a game.

However, Phillips has refused to let the disappointments get on top of him and he is concentrating on helping Sunderland make massive strides forward.

"I've come back and I feel really fit - I can only get stronger and better," he said.

"I've got a good feeling about this season because it's got to go better than last year. If it doesn't we will be relegated so it's got to.

"We know what we have got to do and personally I want to reach my goal target which I'm going to set. I was disappointed on a personal point of view with how many I got last year and I want to put that right this time."

The ex-Watford forward, spotted for a bargain £325,000 in 1997 by manager Peter Reid, had to play through the pain barrier towards the end of the 2001-02 relegation scrap.

And Phillips - who was plagued with stomach and groin injuries - is convinced he has shrugged off those problems and he is hoping to get Sunderland, and his own campaign, off to a flying start at Blackburn on Saturday.

He said: "The last two months were pretty painful and I had to have a little operation but now I can't wait for the season to start.

"At the time we were a little bit light in the centre forward stakes and I couldn't be rested - but that's football.

"I spoke to the manager on numerous occasions and he said 'I'll rest you' but I wanted to play because of the situation we were in.

"In an ideal world I shouldn't have, but the good thing about it was it was not an injury that would get worse - I knew an operation would quickly sort it."

Sunderland had the worst goal-scoring record in the Premiership last season - only scoring 29 goals.

And under-fire boss Reid has been working hard during the summer to try to find a strike partner for his star forward.

Attempts to sign Leeds' Robbie Keane never came to fruition and links with Derby's Malcolm Christie, Chelsea's Eidur Gudjohnsen and Espanyol's Raul Tamudo never materialised.

But Phillips, who himself was a target for Tottenham, is remaining optimistic.

"The full squad, in fact, looks sharp and we are already looking forward to the start of it all," he said. "The manager has made a few signings and he is still on the look out for more."

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