Sunderland 4, Hull City 1

Sep 14 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

PHIL Brown said he did not mind it one little bit, but you could tell that he did and that was perhaps the biggest back handed compliment you will see from a visiting manager this season.

To be fair to Brown, Hull City’s perma-tanned manager with the headset and the carefully manufactured media profile, he did not try to hide from the brutal truth his side had been comprehensively out played and out fought by Sunderland – at least in the second half.

And in his begrudging praise of midfielder Lee Cattermole, with the implication he had been lucky to get away with some of his physical encounters with Hull players, Brown revealed who opposition managers are starting to fear at Sunderland.

Steve Bruce had refused to give up on signing Cattermole, even though his former employers, Wigan Athletic, became increasingly verbal in their attempt to stop him and it is easy to see why.

He has been superb in a Sunderland shirt during these early season exchanges and while Lorik Cana may have received the glittering praise from Bruce after the game on this occasion, it was the Teessider alongside him who got Brown’s heart pumping.

Asked whether he felt Sunderland - the team he grew up supporting - were a better side than the one Hull faced last season, he quickly turned the conversation towards Cattermole’s ferocious impact in midfield.

While Bent’s brace was enough to keep his England recall bandwagon rolling along nicely and deservedly so, Brown believes it is Bruce’s new central midfield partnership which is running the new show at the Stadium of Light.

“The lad Cattermole makes a big difference to Sunderland,” he said. “A massive difference. He made his intentions clear for everyone to see in the first half when he has gone through one or two of our players.

“He picks them up and dusts them down. It is an old fashioned style of football. I have no qualms as far as that is concerned, but he certainly put his stamp on the game. He has got a lot in his locker but that is why you pay lot of money for midfielder like that.”

When Bruce compared Cattermole to a young Roy Keane it was tempting to dismiss the Black Cats boss’s extravagant acclaim as an attempt to talk up one of his new signings. But this was no idle boast. It was an accurate appraisal of a midfielder who, providing he can curb the darker side of his competitive spirit and maintain focus and discipline, is set to become the hub of this new look Sunderland side.

If Cattermole and Cana are in the engine room, Bent is in charge of the torpedoes. This was actually one of his quieter games since that protracted £10m summer move from Tottenham Hotspur, but he gives Sunderland a clinical finish in front of goal they have lacked at this level over the last two years.