SUNDERLAND could be consigned to League One football as early as next week.

Birmingham’s win at Bolton last night puts them eight points ahead of the Black Cats with only six games to go. The Blues also have a marginally better goal difference. 

It means Sunderland could be relegated if they lose to both Leeds and Norwich in the next week. Sunderland have only won six games this season and will have to win at least three to stand any chance of survival.

Many supporters are already resigned to playing in the third tier next season and that would be almost unthinkable for a club which had spent a decade in the Premier League before falling out last season.

Should relegation to League One be confirmed, it will be the first time Sunderland have had to play at that level since 1988 when Lawrie McMenemy took them down from the old Division Two.

If the worst was to happen, then Lynden Gooch is convinced the Stadium of Light will still be a big pull as the club looks to rebuild.

The chances of the Black Cats playing in League One next season increased after Monday’s disappointing 3-1 defeat at home to Sheffield Wednesday.

Chris Coleman, the Sunderland manager, is doing everything he can to keep everyone positive in the hope of overseeing another great escape, but if that does not happen Gooch believes, relatively speaking, there will be good players who will want to move to Sunderland.

California-born Gooch, who regularly travelled to Wearside from the United States the age of ten before moving full-time at 16, said: “It’s massively important to stay out of League One. It almost feels like I’m from here, I’ve been here for so long, I’ll give everything I can because it would be devastating to go down.

“It means so much to everyone around the club. You look at the facilities and it is a Premier League club, never mind a Championship club.

“Listen, it is a massive club, we know that, and no matter what, people will want to play here. If you don’t, there’s something wrong with you. The fans are amazing, they just want to you to give everything for the shirt. That’s what I’ll continue to do.

“It is disappointing, even when I’m not playing I’m desperate for the team to do well, I’ve been here so long I am a fan now. We were gutted not to get another three points.”

Gooch returned to the side for the first time in two months at Derby County on Good Friday, when he helped deliver a spirited and impressive 4-1 win against a play-off contender.

But, like on a number of occasions this season, Sunderland failed to build on that by securing a second positive scoreline – even though they played reasonably well until they conceded three cheap goals against Sheffield Wednesday.

Gooch, who won a penalty at Derby, was at the centre of another spot-kick incident when the already-booked Barry Bannan got away with tripping him in the penalty area. Had that been given and converted then Sunderland would have levelled for a second time.

“It was so frustrating, I thought it was a penalty,” said Gooch, who drew support from Coleman afterwards when he criticised referee Simon Hooper for the decision.

“I’ve got the ball on my right foot and he’s come in and taken the left leg. That’s just our luck at the minute, it could have been 2-2, them down to ten men, a completely different game.

“The spirit is there, even when it went to 2-1 we should have got straight back level, it is just three crosses that have let us down. We worked ever so hard to a man but the little things went against us.

“You have to just keep going, it changes again with one win. Keep going, keep the faith, keep training hard and hopefully it will turn. When everything is against you all you can do is keep plugging away, it is bitterly disappointing not to back up the Derby result but we have to move on again.”

Gooch has enjoyed being involved, starting back-to-back games having not appeared in a Coleman starting line-up since the crushing defeat at Cardiff on January 13.

The 22-year-old, whose cross created George Honeyman’s header against the Owls, said: “I hadn’t played since January but all I could do was knuckle down, keep working hard and hope the manager would give me a chance.

“I should have had another penalty like I did on Friday night and it was good to set up a goal, but ultimately it counts for nothing. All I can do is to try to make an impact,'' he said.

“To be fair to the gaffer he set me the challenge of doing better in the final third, I was getting in to good positions but needed to get more goals and more assists, making better decisions.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to do in training and when I’ve played for the Under-23s, it was good to do that in the first team and hopefully if I can keep doing that we’ll get the points we need on the board.”

His two displays have heartened Coleman, who keeps having to try to pick the players and himself up after negative defeats.

The Sunderland manager said: “Gooch’s had a lot of chances if you look at the games he’s played. I had a chat with him about a month ago because I thought there were certain things he needed to work on and he’s gone away and worked on them. Fair play to him. Friday night he did well and on Monday he ran himself into the ground."