Steve Bruce is unhappy at defeat

Jan 28 2010 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

"I sincerely hope we’ve got the characters to do it but we’ve only been in the Premier League a couple of years." Matthew Kilgallon enjoyed a miserable debut for Sunderland, giving Cahill too much time to create Donovan’s 19th-minute strike. Bruce would have preferred to give the central defender – who Everton manager David Moyes had been hoping to sign at the end of his Sheffield United contract this summer - more time.

"Everton brought in Senderos – they gave him a few days to take his time – we threw in Kilgallon after two training sessions," he pointed out.

The game marked Lee Cattermole’s first appearance since Christmas. But the combative midfielder was only able to last 45 minutes, coming out for the second half only to head back down the tunnel complaining of another hamstring strain.

"It’s the other hamstring," Bruce explained.

"It’s pretty unfortunate, but it seems to happen when he’s been out for a long time.

"He’s trained for the best part of 10 days. It’s got nothing to do with the original one but it keeps re- occurring." After a disappointing performance in Sunderland’s FA Cup exit at Portsmouth on Saturday, Bruce left unsettled striker Kenwyne Jones on the bench, although an injury to Kieran Richardson saw him introduced in the 25th minute.

He was encouraged by what he saw as an improved performance from the Trinidad and Tobago international Bruce used all three substitutes in the opening hour through a combination of bad luck and bad play.

The Black Cats needed two excellent pieces of defending, from George McCartney and John Mensah, to prevent the hosts doubling their lead early in the second half. It was 79 minutes before Sunderland put a shot on target, and even then Andy Reid’s weak shot was straight at Tim Howard. The American did make two saves of note after that, from Boudewijn Zenden and Jones.

The Black Cats have not won away from Wearside in the league since the opening day of the season. Perhaps even more alarmingly, they have won just one of their last 13 league games home or away.

After this week’s results, Sunderland are now just three points above the relegation zone.