Bent's belief in Black Cats unwavering

Feb 1 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Darren Bent continues to show why he is being talked about as a World Cup hopeful. He told chief sports writer Luke Edwards why he believes the Black Cats are the perfect club for him

WHEN Darren Bent was younger there were some who wrote him off as a fair weather striker, the sort of forward who would feast on goals during the good times and starve whenever things got tough.

In cricket, players like these are called flat-track bullies, batsmen who smash runs for fun against poor opposition on lifeless pitches, but who are sent scurrying for cover whenever they face a real test of their ability against world class teams.

Having earned a £16m move to Tottenham Hotspur, Bent had been labelled an expensive flop and a fraud, a striker who could not handle the pressure at the highest level, a forward who needed countless chances in order to convert one of them.

When he looked for an escape last summer, Bent searched for a club which would help him rebuild a battered reputation. Short on confidence and game time at White Hart Lane, he needed to go somewhere he felt wanted and needed.

To say he has found that at Sunderland is something of an understatement. It is nerve wracking to think what Sunderland would be without him. With 15 goals to his name this season, Bent has been sensational, his goals firing the club towards a European challenge over the first three months of the campaign.

Even when Sunderland’s dip in form became a slump, Bent has remained impressively consistent and the goals have kept on coming, not just against the also rans of English football, but against the best. Bent has found the back of the net against Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool, and even during the dreadful team performances at Chelsea and Portsmouth earlier this month, he still found the target.