Black Cats' joy as Villa get the Chop

PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND-UP

By Anthony Clavane  23/03/2008

Roy Keane was a happy man as Sunderland recorded an away Premier League win at last with a 1-0 victory at Aston Villa.

Keane's men are now five points clear of the drop zone after Michael Chopra's winner. And Black Cats boss Keane said: "I'm delighted for Michael, he's not had a lot of chances this season but he took his goal well.

"I'm delighted for the supporters, they've spent a lot of money travelling up and down the country without much reward.

"We have to try to kick on now, we've got seven games to go - and they're all bigger than cup finals."

It was Sunderland's first away win in the top flight since they won 1-0 at West Brom in January 2006.

Reading recorded their third win in four games to ease their relegation fears as Andre Bikey scored both goals in the 2-1 victory over Birmingham.

Royals boss Steve Coppell said: "We now need to get to 40 points and we are capable of getting that. We are now in a position where we have the lion's share of the say about where we play our football next season." Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate admitted his side were lucky to beat doomed Derby 1-0 with a Tuncay Sanli goal.

Southgate said: "We've seen it through and they weren't able to punish us - but we can't play like that. They should have scored, and we would have been sitting here frustrated again."

Stoke stayed top of the Championship with a 1-1 draw at home to Blackpool after the kickoff was delayed for 30 minutes by a serious crash on the M6.

One of those caught in the traffic chaos was ref Mike Pike, who was slammed by Stoke boss Tony Pulis.

Pulis fumed: "How he thought he could drive from Cumbria to here on a Bank Holiday weekend and not take the chance of there being a problem I don't know.

"We did our warm-up and then had to go back in and sit around. We don't get muscle injuries at this club but we got two today and it's not a coincidence.

"Turning up late is completely unprofessional - he should have stayed overnight and made sure he got here on time the same as 20,000 fans."