Steve Bruce has praised Sunderland's strength of character following a difficult few months.
Black Cats chief pleased with his team's fighting spirit
Steve Bruce has praised Sunderland's strength of character following a difficult few months.
The Black Cats have been severely disrupted by the number of injuries they have incurred and by the bombshell departure of striker Darren Bent.
Yet, despite this, they are currently sixth in the table after a 2-1 win over Blackpool last weekend following a Kieran Richardson brace.
Pride
And it is performances like this that have left Bruce brimming with pride at their displays.
"I have to take my hat off to the squad we have," said Bruce.
"For the last six, eight weeks now over the winter period, and especially over Christmas, we have been down to the bare bones.
"The great thing about the squad and the way it has been has been the resilience of them."
Missing
He added: "We have had six or seven missing now for the past two months - [Michael] Turner, [John] Mensah, [Lee] Cattermole, [David] Meyler, [Danny] Welbeck, Fraizer Campbell.
"You name them - we have had injury after injury and the one thing they have done is roll up their sleeves and make sure that we keep hanging in there.
"That's what we have done and that's what we have got to try to do for the next two or three months to make sure we try to cement our place in the top 10."
