Delighted Scharner says Sunderland win was for fans

After the fantastic 1-0 victory over Sunderland on Saturday Paul Scharner explained how happy he and the team were to put the Tottenham Hotspur defeat behind them and are now focused on making it two wins in two when they face Birmingham City this weekend.

"I'm delighted that we got the three points over Sunderland. The week that followed the Tottenham game was probably the worst we've experienced in our careers and it was difficult to get it out of our minds," said Scharner.

"But we responded with such a good performance against Sunderland and we deserved all three points.

"The main thing was that we responded so well for the supporters, and we showed a massive improvement on last week. It was a tough game knowing how Steve Bruce likes his teams to play but in the end we did enough to win all three points and we're all very happy with the result.

"Personally I gave everything that I had in me to help the team get something out of the game, and as a team we all came together and fought for the win.

"Our home form has been really good this season, and the Sunderland game was kind of like the light at the end of the tunnel following the Spurs game. During last week we were thinking that we had two home games to get back on track and put things right.

"Now that we're half-way through that hopefully we can make it two wins in two against Birmingham City. "

Scharner has been an influential figure for Latics this season playing in a more advanced role just behind the striker, and explains that although he should have been on the score-sheet at the weekend, he is relishing the new job:

"I'm really enjoying my new role because I feel I have a lot of attacking power. I like to move around the whole pitch and it's very difficult to do that from the centre-back position I was playing recently.

"I like being able to get involved with the attacking moves with the likes of Hugo (Rodallega) and Charles (N'Zogbia) and I think it's my strongest position where I show my best qualities.

"I nearly had the chance of getting the first goal but in truth it was a pretty weak shot. The angles were closed down quite quickly and when I look back I probably should have scored from that opportunity."