IT IS a popular misconception that relegation battles are all about perspiration rather than inspiration.

The teams that fight and scrap themselves to a standstill will stay up, or so the maxim goes.

How sad it is for Sunderland that this age-old adage is complete bunkum.

They never stopped trying on Saturday; never gave up hope of re-igniting their Premiership flame that was in truth extinguished long before Howard Wilkinson was sacked.

But if one wanted to discover why Sunderland are doomed and Bolton Wanderers are edging towards safety, then the occupier of the yellow No 10 shirt provided ample evidence.

Jay Jay Okocha was playing a different brand of football than the sort served up by Sunderland's willing workhorses.

Poor old Michael Gray would probably break into a cold sweat if he were ever to be confronted by Okocha again, so humiliating was his treatment at the hands of the Nigerian on Saturday.

One felt sorry for Gray, a sterling servant for Sunderland who sadly has not resembled a Premiership player for quite some time.

As entertaining as Okocha was, it was excruciating to see Gray so outclassed by the Bolton playmaker.

Wanderers boss Sam Allardyce, who fielded a starting line-up on Saturday that did not contain a single British-born player, has constructed a team in which craft and graft dovetailed neatly on Saturday.

Together with show ponies like Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff, there is the dependable Gudni Bergsson and Per Frandsen to do the donkey work.

Allardyce made sympathetic noises about Bolton's win owing much to the fortune of the first goal, when Thomas Sorensen punched Okocha's cross into his own net.

But in explaining why he is confident his club can stay up, he let slip the principal reason why Sunderland will go down.

Allardyce said: "Quality is crucial in a relegation battle, and Youri Djorkaeff and Jay Jay Okocha have got that."

In those players, Bolton have individuals who can do the unexpected; produce an element of surprise that Sunderland painfully lack.

The Black Cats do not have a Plan B to turn to if things are not working well.

Then again, there are times when one wonders if there is a Plan A.

So bad were Sunderland by the end of Saturday's game that even the hapless Ivan Campo was playing matador football, toying with those in red and white shirts.

"Ole!" the Bolton fans cried as Campo twisted and turned his way down the wing until George McCartney scythed down the Spaniard.

"We made Bolton look a good team," Darren Williams said. Could anyone have delivered a more damning assessment of Sunderland than that?

Mick McCarthy rightly pointed out that he cannot transform his club's fortunes in just three days.

It has taken the manager that long, however, to realise he must dismantle the footballing infrastructure after two years of steady decline.

McCarthy said: "It's going to have to be rebuilt, there's no question about it.

"You can listen to soundbytes about whether we're going to stay up, but whatever division we're in it needs to be rebuilt.

"I like to think I'm good at what I do, but I don't think it's possible to turn the club round and put it back to the seventh place it had under Peter Reid with the same people.

"It becomes a way of life. If you keep losing games and find yourself in 20th spot, it would take some miracle to get the same group of players back to seventh.

"But this is a proper football club, and that makes it easier to rebuild.

"People will always come here for the same reasons I came here - the fan base, the ground, the training ground and so on."

Allardyce provided the understatement of this or any other season when he said McCarthy has "a tough job" in keeping Sunderland in the Premiership.

The Bolton manager believes 40 points would be enough to ensure his team stave off relegation.

So, that would equal eight wins from Sunderland's final nine matches.

Or, to put it another way, as many victories as they have managed in their last 50 League games.

Suddenly, McCarthy's "tough" job looks more like an impossible one, and fans can begin to take the Premiership badges off the sleeves of their replica shirts.

Relegation would be another crushing blow to Bob Murray, the embattled Sunderland chairman who is coming under increasing pressure during the club's season of discontent.

McCarthy launched a stringent defence of Murray, however, citing his presence as a major reason for his decision to accept the challenge of resurrecting Sunderland.

He said: "Bob was a big influence in me taking the job. I've always liked him; he's a football man and a fan.

"He loves the club and he's been instrumental in making this club what it is.

"But it's always the same: you stick your head above the parapet whether you're a chairman or manager, and if things aren't going right you get a bit of flak.

"People shouldn't forget what Bob Murray has done for this club. I remember being at Roker Park when they were talking about plans for moving, and I thought, 'Yeah right!'

"But here I am managing here, and a lot of that is down to Bob Murray."

After a tepid first half, Bolton's first goal on 50 minutes shattered Sunderland's fragile confidence.

The coup de grace was applied five minutes later when Joachim Bjorklund inexplicably failed to clear a loose ball in his own penalty box and Henrik Pedersen stabbed home.

* Stephen Wright will have a scan today on the hamstring injury he sustained in the first half of Saturday's game.

Result: Sunderland 0 Bolton Wanderers 2.

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