Bruce backs Darren Bent despite penalty miss

Nov 9 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

STEVE Bruce has urged Darren Bent not to dwell on his costly penalty miss against Tottenham Hotspur as he delivered a withering response to criticism of his striker following the 2-0 defeat at White Hart Lane.

Although Bruce admitted Bent’s spot- kick blunder had been the game’s pivotal moment as the Wearsiders failed to turn their dominance of the game into goals, he quickly offered an arm around his shoulder as he argued he had been nothing but a success since he signed.

Despite the miss, Fabio Capello last night called up the striker to the England squad for Saturday’s friendly with Brazil after watching him at White Hart Lane.

And the Black Cats boss was incensed by an attack on his £10m star’s integrity from former Spurs player turned BBC

pundit Garth Crooks, who accused the 25-year-old of diving to con referee Kevin Friend. “He’s talking a load of crap, he’s talking an absolute load of bull,” said Bruce about Crooks’ comments. “He used to play here didn’t he? Enough said. Everyone in the ground knew it was a penalty.

“If someone is hurtling towards you, and is going to smash into you, then of course you are going to take evasive action. He has taken the ball around the goalkeeper and if there isn’t contact he sticks the ball in the back of the net. I’m not going along with Garth on this one. I think it is a ridiculous statement.”

Bruce insisted that should not do anything to detract from his excellent form so far this season.

He added: “I think the missed penalty gave Tottenham a bit of a lift. That changed the game. Up until then they hadn’t had a clear-cut chance apart from the goal and we were the better team.

“Benty, as you can imagine, is really disappointed but he has done great for us. He’s missed a penalty but all great players miss penalties in their career. The England manager will know every player can miss a pen. He has been outstanding for the last three months. We haven’t got a dearth of England strikers, he is right up there with the big boys. If he had scored today he would have been at the top of the charts in the Premier League.”

Bruce was also unhappy with the performance of Friend, who is relatively new to the Premier League rota. And, although he tried not to criticise his performance, he found it hard to stop himself.

He said: “I’m not going to criticise the referee on all the big decisions. Just this one. It was a stone-cold penalty. I’m not just going to criticise the official, but we didn’t get that decision today and that happens too often, especially away from home. That’s why we go stupid.

“He denied him a goalscoring opportunity and that is a red card.

“I don’t want to comment on his performance because you feel like you are bleating and making excuses. However, his performance was poor.”

As for the team, he said: “The level of performance was terrific and if we keep playing like that I will be happy.”