Many have feared the Black Cats would be lost if their star man was taken away.

But Jones was left at home with flu on Saturday as the Wearsiders proved worthy of their first away win of the season.

Reid – a key man at Villa Park – does not underestimate the Trinidad & Tobago international's importance to his side.

But the Irishman said: "Kenwyne's been brilliant for us, and we're always going to miss him.

"But we were a threat on Saturday, and now he's got to fight to get back into the team.

"Every away game is difficult in the Premier League, but we worked extremely hard and I feel we deserved the win.

"There is still a lot of hard work to be done between now and the end of the season, but hopefully we have hit a bit of form at the right time.

"We played well at home against Everton and Chelsea – two good sides - without getting anything, and we knew that Villa had done well this season and would be tough.

"But I felt we created a lot of chances against them and managed to take one near the end to win it."

The visitors squandered some good first-half chances before substitute Michael Chopra popped up with an 83rd-minute winner, Reid involved I the build-up to the goal.

Roy Keane's men go into the final seven games of the season with a four-point gap between themselves and the bottom three.

Reid said: "It's still very tight at the bottom of the league and we have to concentrate on our own results and performances rather than what the other teams are doing.

"If we go about our jobs properly, we can pick up results and it was important to get a win under our belts after a few games without one.

"Obviously we're happy, but there's no point in getting too carried away. We can enjoy it, look at the positives from the game, but also look at what we need to improve on for the next game.

"We always felt we could get an away result, and but for the bounce of the ball we might have got it before now.

"It's a monkey off our back now and we can get on with playing football and, as the manager tells us, enjoy it."

Reid had an excellent game and was involved in a lot of Sunderland's most dangerous moments.

He added: "That's my second full game in a row, and I'm feeling better and sharper every time I go onto the pitch.

"I just want to finish the season strongly and make sure Sunderland is still a Premier League club at the end of the season. I feel we are good enough for that.

"After six weeks out before I left Charlton, I'm just pleased that I'm able to play and contribute again.

"I'm delighted we got the three points and they're a big boost to us.

"I thought we played the more penetrative stuff and it paid off.

"We got what we deserved, and when we scored we showed the other side of our game by shutting up shop well to deny Villa many more chances to get back into it."