RELIEVED Sunderland manager Peter Reid admitted last night: "We're not safe yet - but this has given us a lot of breathing space."

And the Wearside boss paid tribute to the contribution of yesterday's man of the match Claudio Reyna, who hit the two goals which flattened bottom-of-the-table Leicester City.

Reid said: "Claudio was absolutely outstanding - he scored two goals and hit the post.

"But every time the ball went near him he was a calming influence. As I say I think he was outstanding and it was a good job we had him on the pitch.

"If Claudio's shot that hit the post had gone in it would have been one of the best hat-tricks I've ever seen.

"His second goal was an outstanding free-kick.

"He has got quality in those sort of positions and it is a big boost when you have a player who can do things like that."

Reid revealed that Reyna had been carrying a hamstring injury and had been substituted late in the game as a precaution, but he will be fit to face Leeds United at Elland Road next Sunday.

The Sunderland boss admitted there had been some anxious moments against a battling Leicester side which never threw in the towel.

He said: "We had chances to go 3-1 up to give ourselves some breathing space but we didn't take them and at times we had to defend desperately.

"There was only Claudio who handled the pressure and settled us.

"It was quite nerve-racking at times."

Reid admitted: "It was a terrific result for us. It is not over yet but I am delighted with the three points.

"We need to get a few more points from the last five games.

"I don't think it is over yet because they are all hard games.

"But other clubs have hard games, too. It is up to us - we have to do the job."

Leicester manager Dave Bassett felt his side had done enough in the second half to earn a share of the spoils.

He said: "In the second half we put Sunderland under all sorts of pressure but we just couldn't get a break. They were very tense towards the end but we couldn't open up a chance."

He added: "I think that Sunderland will have enough points in the bag by the end of the season to stay up."