THOUSANDS of Sunderland fans turned out at the Stadium of Light to watch an open training session yesterday afternoon, with locally-produced academy graduate George Honeyman suggesting the exercise should have given the fight to beat the drop a boost.

Supporters were invited to watch Jermain Defoe and the rest of David Moyes’ squad train during the half term break and around 5,000 took a seat in the main stand before many had photos taken and collected autographs from the players.

The numbers were impressive considering how Sunderland remain rooted to the foot of the Premier League table and two points shy of safety with 13 matches remaining.

Prudhoe-born Honeyman, taken aback by the turn out, said: “Imagine if we were flying in the top ten, I’d hate to think of how many people would turn up. Those fans back us no matter what and we have to give them something to back. It is incredible support from the people who come to the club.

“Speaking for myself I know what it’s like here, but some of the lads were amazed by the turnout. The numbers we bring to home games, away games, no matter what, it shows what a brilliant club this is and it deserves to be a Premier League club. If you can’t enjoy playing for this club you can’t enjoy playing for anyone.

“You wouldn’t have thought we were bottom of the league having just been out there. There were smiles, happy faces, no abuse, it was as if we were going for the Champions League place. It was crazy. The positivity from the fans will drive us through. It was incredible to train in front of that.”

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made some impressive saves as he approaches his return to action following a knee injury, while midfielder Jan Kirchhoff was heavily involved as he edges towards a comeback of his own.

Sunderland will have had a fortnight off by the time they head to Everton this Saturday, and the first chunk of that break was spent in New York on a squad bonding exercise arranged by Moyes.

The Sunderland players went running through Central Park, took in some basketball and ice hockey, while they also went to a Red Hot Chilli Peppers gig during their time in the big apple.

It was 22-year-old Honeyman’s first time in New York. He said: “We had a good five days together, getting away, I think just a change of scenery makes a massive difference.

“Being with each other 24/7 has a big impact, we’ve come back and I’ve never known the dressing room so loud. I think it has had the perfect effect so far from what I can tell. Training was the highest tempo I’ve seen it this season so, so far, so good, it is what the manager wanted I think.

“It was hard work out there too you know, we knew it was going to be that. I want to go back and maybe not work so hard. The first running session was harder than anything I’d done in pre-season, I was so taken aback.

“Obviously, through Central Park, not a bad place to run through is it? It was tough but obviously good, you can’t do much complaining can you?”

Now the focus is on collecting the points to secure Premier League status for a further year. Honeyman said: “We know there’s winnable games there and we also know we’ve been here before, we can do it again. A lot of the players know what it takes to stay up. I’m fully confident that we’re going to do it again and I’m sure the rest of the lads are.

“I think a lot comes down to the mentality, we have a lot of strong characters in that dressing room and I’m sure they’ll pull the rest of the lads through. It is a lot to do with mental toughness, we’ve had plenty of experience of being in this position and that can only help us.”