IT is often billed as the be all and end all when it comes to football in the North-East, but Sunderland head coach Dick Advocaat has claimed a record-breaking fifth successive derby win over Newcastle United will mean nothing if the Black Cats do not retain their Premier League status at the end of the season.

Sunderland’s players will attempt to create history tomorrow afternoon, yet while the lure of a fifth straight win over the Magpies is exercising the minds of most of the club’s supporters, Advocaat insists he is more concerned with the bigger picture at the foot of the table.

It would be wrong to claim the Dutchman has attempted to downplay the significance of the derby in the manner of his compatriot, Ruud Gullit, and as someone who experienced mixed fortunes in his 16 Old Firm derbies as Rangers boss, Advocaat knows all about the importance of claiming local bragging rights.

But having been appointed specifically to engineer Sunderland’s survival despite the club’s position just a point above the relegation zone, the experienced 67-year-old is refusing to get carried away on the tide of hysteria that generally accompanies a derby day. 

“I would prefer that the fans loved me at the end of the season,” said Advocaat, when asked about the potential implications of a Sunderland win tomorrow, and the hero status that was afforded to Paolo Di Canio and Gus Poyet in the immediate aftermath of their own derby successes.

“We all know how special this game will be and we are all looking forward to it. You have to think about that, but the most important thing is to get the result.

“We cannot say that if we do not get the result on Sunday, we will have another game. We have to get points in every game between now and the end of the season, and the first game in that is Newcastle.”

Sunderland have recorded just two Premier League victories at the Stadium of Light all season, but a third tomorrow would go a long way towards repairing much of the damage that was inflicted by the calamitous 4-0 home defeat that signalled the end of Poyet’s reign.

The Black Cats’ home ground was a tortured place on that day, but the mood is sure to be markedly different tomorrow as Newcastle arrive with a side containing former Sunderland midfielder Jack Colback.

When Poyet’s side claimed a 2-1 derby win last season, with Fabio Borini scoring a dramatic late winner, the atmosphere built to a euphoric climax, and as he prepares to make his Stadium of Light debut, Advocaat is hoping for a similarly positive response from the stands.

“For us, the stadium must be a weapon,” he said. “It is a home game, and that’s the reason I say it is so important for them to get behind us, because it is an extra weapon. If the players feel that, they will give even more, and I expect the fans will do that, and from the players the same.

“I can understand why the fans left against Aston Villa because they were 4-0 down at half-time, and the way the players reacted after they scored the goals, you cannot accept that.

“They have shown us a bit more – not football-wise, but the commitment at West Ham was okay. They worked for everything, although we have to play much better. But it was quite difficult to do that in three days, and now with ten days more, it looks a bit better.”

Advocaat, who will restore Lee Cattermole to the starting line-up following the end of the skipper’s two-match ban, took the bold step of playing Jermain Defoe, Connor Wickham and Steven Fletcher at Upton Park, and the trio are all expected to retain their place in a similarly attacking formation tomorrow.

Defoe boasts an impressive record against Newcastle from his time at Tottenham and West Ham, while Fletcher is going into the game on the back of an international hat-trick for Scotland and Gibraltar, and Advocaat accepts that improving his side’s scoring record will be the key to enhancing their fortunes, both tomorrow and in the seven other games that remain.

“We have to score goals, so then you ask who can score them,” he said. “They have only scored 23 goals this season, so there must be a reason for that, but it’s difficult to find out in such a short period.”

Advocaat generally adopted a positive mindset in his Old Firm encounters as Rangers boss, although he will not be repeating the mistake he made when his first experience of the occasion at Celtic Park ended in a comprehensive victory for the home side.

“We lost the game, and I remember saying some things in the press conference when they (the supporters) were really upset,” he said. “To be honest, I did not realise at that moment that it was so huge.

“I said, ‘We have lost, but it is no problem for me because it is just one of 36 games and we will not lose any more’.  We became champions that year – six points ahead of Celtic – but I would not say that anymore because of what I know now.”