Bent remains philosophical over England

Mar 12 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

DARREN Bent will not allow his England ambition to dominate his thinking as he looks to end a superb first season at Sunderland on a high.

Bent’s chances of making England’s World Cup squad have receded after he was left out of Fabio Capello’s party for the friendly with Egypt earlier this month. The 26-year-old has not given up on a late call-up, despite his apparent slide down the pecking order, but he will not become obsessed by the desire to play a part in South Africa.

Bent notched his 19th goal of the season with a hat-trick in the timely 4-0 win over Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night, although he suspects even that might not be enough to change national perceptions of him.

“I hope it bodes well for England, but it’s going to be tough,” said Bent, who has played just once under Capello against Brazil back in November.

“Only Wayne Rooney has scored more goals than me in the England squad now. I’d love to get the call, but if I don’t I’ll just have to move on.

“I’m quite philosophical about it. There is no point keeping talking and talking about it because that’s not going to do me any good.

“I just have to get on with it and play as well as I can for Sunderland.

“Every striker loves to get to 20 goals in a season, but I just want to score as many as I can do. That’s my only target.”

Bent’s second-half treble against Bolton was his first in Sunderland colours and the first by a Black Cats striker since Marcus Stewart scored one against Watford in February 2005.

And the former Spurs man was delighted to have played a role in relieving the pressure as the Wearsiders re-opened a six point gap between themselves and the bottom three.

He said: “It’s been a while since we’ve won a game and it’s a nice feeling. It’s been a long time coming. It was a really good performance and I think 4-0 probably flattered Bolton a bit. It’s the first hat-trick here in five years or something. It’s funny that Marcus Stewart was the last player to get one because I played with him at Ipswich Town for a few years.

“It was nice to get back on the goal trail because my performances have been below par the last few weeks. It was nice to come back with a bang.

“It’s not nice when you’re constantly looking over your shoulder and the gap had come down to three points. The win has given us a bit of breathing space and hopefully we can kick on now.

“We’re not out of the woods quite yet, but it has made a big difference. A six-point gap is quite a healthy one. We have never thought negatively.”

Bent also feels a change in mentality, as well as a return to form by Steed Malbranque after his much-publicised falling out with Steve Bruce, was responsible for securing the team’s first league win in more than three months.

He added: “I think the big difference was, although we scored early, we didn’t sit back and invite pressure. We kept on pressing and the second goal came.

“I missed one in the first half, but I don’t doubt myself. I was sitting in the changing room at half-time saying I should have scored, but the manager said another chance was coming – and he was right.

“It’s nice to know we have players like Steed in there who can spot a pass, it’s the same with Andy Reid and Bolo Zenden.

“At the start of the season, when everybody was fit, we were creating a lot of chances – and it was back to that on Tuesday night.”