Roy Keane has called on his dejected Sunderland squad to "lick their wounds" and get ready for another gruelling test at home to Chelsea.The Black Cats put in a gritty, if uninspired, performance against Champions League hopefuls Everton on Sunday only to lose out to a single, scrappy goal.

It was a much-improved display from the last time the sides met, when Everton crushed their opponents 7-1 at Goodison Park in November, but Keane acknowledged it was another blow.

But with the Premier League relegation battle well and truly on for the Wearsiders, the Irishman insists there is no time wallow in their bad luck after the winning goal cannoned off Andrew Johnson's arm past Craig Gordon.

Instead, they must turn their attentions to third-placed Chelsea on Saturday.

"Yes, the players are down and disappointed. The day they are not after a defeat will be a very sad day for the club," Keane said.

"But we'll lick our wounds and get ready for another tough game on Saturday.

"You have to keep believing. Sometimes it's hard when you lose, but the spirit among the players is the least of my worries."

Keane did not contest the winning goal but accepts it as another hard lesson in what has been a tough term back in the top flight.

He said: "It came off his arm but I think it would have been very harsh of the referee to disallow it. We have the benefit of replays but at the time we didn't think for a minute that it had struck his arm.

"You deal with setbacks. We've had our fair share, whether it be disappointing results, heavy defeats or decisions we feel have gone against us.

"That's the test of any manager or any player and we have to be positive for our next game. I think there's five, six, seven teams down there fighting and we've said all along it might go to the last week or two."

Triumphant Everton boss David Moyes, meanwhile, hailed the character of his side after they responded to their midweek UEFA Cup defeat at Fiorentina in the perfect fashion.

With a short turnaround between their Italian trip and the visit to the Sunderland, Moyes had little time to work on the shortcomings of Thursday's poor display.

Instead, he was pleased to see the players rally from that setback with a wholehearted performance in demanding conditions.

"It was always going to be a test. We got back late (from Italy) on Friday, travelled here yesterday and it can have its effects," Moyes said.

"We keep getting told you don't win games when you're coming back from Europe, but I think that's a couple of times we've done it now.

"We could have gone to Fiorentina and played very well and lost 2-0 but we didn't, we played very badly.

"But the players showed great character, rolled up their sleeves and came away with three valuable points.

"Everybody was looking to see how we would react and, to me, they've shown they can stand up to that."

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