KEVIN KYLE made the amazing claim last night that Sunderland are good enough to be challenging for a UEFA Cup spot.

Despite 13 successive Premiership defeats - the fifth worst sequence in the history of English League football - Kyle insisted Sunderland's feisty display in Saturday's Wear-Tyne derby proved they belong in the top flight.

Everton, who currently occupy the sixth place that will secure UEFA Cup qualification for next season, are a massive 40 points ahead of the hapless Black Cats.

And the closest Kyle will get to plying his trade abroad in the coming months would be if he asked for a job at his erstwhile employers Irish Sea Ferries.

But the 21-year-old striker was sufficiently buoyed by Sunderland's performance in defeat to come out fighting.

He said: "If we'd played all season like we played against Newcastle and Chelsea recently, we wouldn't be heading for the First Division.

"We'd be in mid-table and possibly pushing for the European places.

"But it's far too late to be putting in performances like that; we should have been doing it at the start of the season.

"But if we can get some points from our next two games, it will put us in good stead for next season."

Kyle took heart from how Sunderland gave Newcastle such a rough ride without the injured Kevin Phillips and Gavin McCann.

Both players are expected to be sold during the close season as Mick McCarthy looks to alleviate the club's perilous financial position.

Kyle said: "If the likes of Kevin and Gavin leave, as well as others who have been mentioned, there are enough players who are good enough to take us into the Premiership.

"It would be great if they could stay, but you never know what's going to happen in the summer, especially with the club being in debt.

"The crowd were awesome, too. When I first came here, teams were scared of the crowd alone, and they were like a 12th man against Newcastle.

"We were fired up from the word go, and in the first half we hit the bar and Shay Given made two good saves from David Bellion.

"We found it hard to equalise once they scored, but we were unfortunate not to get a point.

"We kept working hard once we went a goal behind. Against Birmingham and West Brom, we did well in the first 35 or 40 minutes but our heads went down when we went a goal down."

Kyle had no complaints after his last-minute "goal" was disallowed for a Tore Andre Flo foul on Given.

Had his header counted, it would have been the Scotland international's first Premiership goal - but referee Steve Bennett cut short his celebrations.

Kyle added: "I saw the ball hit the net and I took off, thinking I'd scored the equaliser.

"But it wasn't to be, and Tore said he'd fouled the keeper."

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