Nyron's so Keane

Sunderland manager Roy Keane has praised the character of fans' favourite Nyron Nosworthy.

The 26-year-old defender found himself out in the cold last season after Keane had taken over at the helm and set about assessing his squad.

However, as several of the players inherited from Mick McCarthy were shown the door, Nosworthy worked his way back into contention and the former Gillingham player established himself as a key member of the side which won the Championship title last season.

Even more impressive was his conversion from right-back to central defender which has reinvigorated his career on Wearside and earned him cult status.

Nosworthy missed the derby trip to Middlesbrough last weekend with a knee injury and has only a 50-50 chance of resuming against Blackburn Rovers at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

However, Keane has been hugely impressed by a man whose future at the club looked bleak a little more than a year ago.

"Nyron has been a big plus since I got the job. In my first month's training, I don't think he trained with the first team," said the manager.

"I spoke to him and told him I had to look at certain things and he was as good as gold.

"He kept his head down and trained away with the young kids and the reserves and when he got his chance, he took it and has probably started in the team ever since.

creditable response

"He was a right-back and we asked him to do a job last year for us at centre-half and he did very well. The fans have stuck to him. He tries the odd trick here and there - the fans like to see that in a player - and they certainly appreciate his efforts."

Within days of him taking over, Keane wasted little time in re-shaping his squad, bringing in six new faces, six more - including loan singings Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson - in January and 12 this summer.

During the same period 11 departed, including the likes of Liam Lawrence, Jon Stead, Ben Alnwick and Steve Caldwell, as major changes were made to the dressing room.

However, it produced a creditable response from those players who remained.

"That's what you need. When I first came into the job there were one or two players who we had to test and try them in different situations," added Keane.

"The likes of Nyron, Dean Whitehead, Danny Collins, Darren Ward, Grant Leadbitter - those players have managed to stay around and are obviously doing something right because a lot of lads from when I took the job are not here."