SUNDERLAND need only a draw in their final home game against already-relegated Derby County a week on Saturday to ensure their Premiership safety.

But Republic of Ireland international Kevin Kilbane admitted last night that the next two weeks before the all-important final reckoning will be like Chinese torture for Peter Reid's men.

The Wearsiders gained a hard-fought point and now look like escaping relegation by the skin of their teeth after third-bottom Ipswich Town's crucial 1-0 defeat at the hands of defending champions Manchester United on Saturday night, leaving them three points adrift, albeit with better goal difference.

Now, with Ipswich facing another formidable task at Liverpool in their last game of the season, Sunderland need only a point against Derby to make sure of staying in the top flight.

But Kilbane spoke for the rest of his teammates when he said they'd have much preferred to get the final test out of the way instead of being forced to wait a week after next Saturday's FA Cup Final.

He said: "It's going to be an anxious couple of weeks for us until the final game of the season against Derby.

"We know that if we get a point against Derby we will be safe no matter how Ipswich do at Liverpool on the same day, but we will be going out to win. "It has been mentioned in the dressing room that we've now got to wait two weeks for the last game - I can't believe that the fixtures are being played around the Cup Final again.

"The FA Cup Final has always been the way to bring down the curtain on the season and now we will all be on edge for two weeks waiting to see what happens.

"We'll be watching the Cup Final in the knowledge that we are not yet safe and that will be disappointing."

Kilbane, whose second-minute equaliser at The Valley gave Sunderland badly-needed confidence after they'd fallen behind after only 65 seconds, felt that it was a much better performance from a Sunderland side which had lost its five previous games in London this season.

He admitted: "We might well have folded in the past few weeks after being hit by such and early goal.

"It's happened where we've been deflated by an early goal and haven't been able to get ourselves moving again.

"But against Charlton I think we showed that little bit of desire and that little bit of confidence in ourselves by getting ourselves back in the game and then going 2-1 in front.

"We might well have gone 3-1 in front with the chance we had."

Kilbane thanked Republic of Ireland Under-21 winger Thomas Butler for laying on his goal.

He said: "Thomas cut inside and it was a fantastic, inch-perfect pass into my stride and I was just pleased to get on to the end of it really."

And Kilbane was full of praise for the Sunderland fans, who once again provided their whole-hearted backing to a team which has disappointed so often away from home this season. He said: "They spurred us on magnificently and we're just so disappointed that we couldn't send them home happy in the knowledge that we'd put even more pressure on Ipswich by winning three points.

"But now we're looking to kill off Ipswich Town's hopes of survival when we meet Derby County in two weeks' time."

Sunderland manager Peter Reid said: "As I've said before, we've got ourselves in this position and now we've got to get ourselves out of it.

"It will be a massive game against Derby County and I think it's fair to say that it's going to be lively at the Stadium of Light. But it's going to be a long two weeks' wait for us."

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