HOW apposite that the zenith of Kevin Phillips's six years on Wearside came during a downpour of Biblical proportions at St James' Park.

For Phillips, whose winning goal in the tumultuous Tyne-Wear derby of August 1999 anointed Sunderland as the North-East's best team, has been treading water for far too long.

And now his place in the Sunderland Hall of Fame will always be tainted by his association with the side that has disappeared down the Premiership plug hole after drowning in the murky depths of the top flight.

It is a crying shame that Phillips's love affair with the Black Cats has ended in tears.

After 130 goals and numerous golden memories in red and white, Phillips is just 90 minutes away from signing off at Sunderland.

And when he leaves the Stadium of Light pitch tomorrow for the final time, he will walk straight into Wearside legend.

Having ignored the adage that one should always quit when the adoring public wants more, Phillips has been part of Sunderland's spectacular downfall over the past two seasons.

He embodied the revival of this grand old club's return to English football's top table.

From Vale Park to Valley Parade, and Stamford Bridge to the Stadium of Light, for four years Phillips was a goalscoring phenomenon.

But just as his emergence spearheaded Sunderland's revival, the 29-year-old's slump in form has accompanied the club's decline and subsequent fall from grace.

Nevertheless, Phillips's name will stand proudly alongside those of Shackleton, Clough and Rowell in the pantheon of great Sunderland strikers.

Of course he has been partly responsible for his goal drought over the last two seasons, in which he has scored just 20 times.

But Phillips's teammates have been criminally negligent in failing to provide him with the service that he gorged on voraciously.

As A Love Supreme editor Martyn McFadden noted: "Kevin Phillips was eating steak before; he's been given beefburgers since."

Throughout the highs and lows following his cut-price arrival from Watford in July 1997, Phillips has been a constant.

When Arsenal and Leeds United wanted to sign him in 2000 and 2001, Phillips could easily have made waves and forced Peter Reid to sell him.

Instead, he stayed with Sunderland. Whether he made the right decision in retrospect is a moot point, but his commitment to the cause is appreciated.

McFadden said: "In the modern game, you don't get players showing the loyalty that Sunderland have had from Kevin Phillips.

"We're all delighted that he didn't leave when he might have done, but maybe if he had gone he would have become an even better player.

"If you were to invent someone just to put the ball in the net for you, Kevin Phillips at his peak was probably the perfect goalscorer.

"Certain things just haven't gone for him. He got half-chances for England and he didn't score; Darius Vassell scored on his debut and Phillips never got a sniff again."

For all his achievements at club level, Phillips was irked by his failure to carve out a successful international career.

But that never mattered to Sunderland fans.

Newcastle United might be able to worship one of their own in Alan Shearer, but Hitchin-born Phillips soon became an adopted Mackem.

And swapping Nationwide League-bound Sunderland for a Premiership club will not tarnish his reputation in their eyes.

Read more about Sunderland here.