Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon never doubted himself despite a difficult start to his career in England - as he trusts his own ability.The Scotland international was catapulted into the limelight during the summer when Black Cats boss Roy Keane paid a British record £9million to Hearts to bring Gordon south of the border.

However, there were murmurs of unrest as the 25-year-old found the going tough during his early months on Wearside and at one point lost his place to under-study Darren Ward.

But having regained his place in the team, he has played a major role in an improved run for Keane's mean who, despite having lost 10 successive away games in the league, have won five of their last seven at home - three of them with clean sheets.

That resulted in the fans singing Gordon's name during the club's last home game - a vital 2-0 win over Wigan.

Gordon said: "You trust your ability and you know things will turn around. Whether it is a lucky save or something, something will turn and then you can build on that.

"I have just kept my head down and worked hard and tried to come through the other side and help this team to stay in the league.

"There is still an awful lot of hard work to do, not just myself, but the rest of the lads, to make sure that happens."

Keane was adamant when he briefly took Gordon out of the firing line that he would be back stronger for the experience.

The keeper freely admits making the transition from Scottish to English football has been a challenge, but is confident he has adapted.

He said: "It was always going to be a difficult season. Coming down from Scotland and into this league is a huge step for any player.

"I had not experienced anything like this - the closest I could relate it to is playing international football, but even then, it is not the same.

"It takes a bit of getting used to. New players, new surroundings, different city - different players are going to take different times to settle in.

"Now that I have got a settled back four in front of me, that has helped as well, and hopefully I can push on now and continue improving my game."

That process has been aided in no small part by the January arrivals of Jonny Evans and Phil Bardsley, who have helped to shore up the Sunderland rearguard and pave the way for some gritty performances, particularly at the Stadium of Light.

Gordon said: "You can see the benefits of that. When you have the same people playing in front of you, you get that understanding going, and that's definitely helped us.

"Between the five of us, we have started to do fairly well at the back and we have not been conceding that many goals lately.

"That's a big positive for us because with Kenwyne up front, we are always likely to nick something and at home, we are always good going forward.

"We are starting to see the signs of this team going forward."

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