Bruce rues bad luck

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce described Tottenham's 2-0 win over his side at White Hart Lane as "lucky".

The Black Cats were on top for most of the game but went into the break a goal behind and squandered a chance to level after the break when Darren Bent missed a penalty against his old club.

After the match, Bruce bemoaned the bad luck his side have endured in recent weeks but accepted that such results are part and parcel of the game.

"Anybody who's here who witnessed it will say they were lucky on the day," the former Wigan boss told Sky Sports.

"Since the beach ball incident against Liverpool, we seem to have ran out of luck.

Chances

"We've played great against West Ham in the second-half with 10 men, we've played great today, created chances.

"The Achilles heel though, if I'm critical (is) we've got to take these chances that we're creating.

"But the football we played and the way we approached the game was terrific. We deserved to get something out of it - not our day, which happens in football, unfortunately."

Apart from Bent's miss, Sunderland came closest in the first-half when Andy Reid's powerful volley rebounded off the post to safety.

Jordan Henderson and Kieran Richardson also had chances to hit the back of the net before half-time but the respective efforts were sliced wide and denied by Heruelho Gomes.

"We've had three or four wonderful opportunities, you have to score those," Bruce added.

"With Reidy's volley and Jordan's side-foot miss and Kieran's through - big, big chances like this in the Premier League - you have to take them.

Terrific

"We haven't taken them against West Ham or today, that's the downside of it.

"The good side is the manner in which we've played is terrific, I hope we can maintain that because obviously our luck will change."

Bruce also believes that Spurs' goalkeeper Gomes should not have been on the pitch to save Bent's spot-kick after bringing the striker down in the area.

He said: "This is what we can't understand in the game and this is why we get frustrated. For me, he's denying a goalscoring opportunity.

"Now, if Darren Bent gets on that ball after the goalkeeper's fouled him, whether there's one player on the line or not, he's denied a goalscoring opportunity.

"In my opinion, he should go.

"They are the grey areas, if that was a defender doing that and there was a goalkeeper on the line, he would get a straight red card because he was through on goal.

"So, that's the turning point, we've missed the penalty, it should be 10 men, it might have been a different story. But with the luck the way it's going, it might not have been either."