Bruce backs Bent inclusion

Hat-trick makes striker third-top scorer in Premier League

By Jamie Casey   Last updated: 9th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Bruce backs Bent inclusion

Bent: Scores from the spot against Bolton

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Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has backed hat-trick hero Darren Bent to make Fabio Capello's World Cup squad this summer.

Bent grabbed a second-half hat-trick on Tuesday night as Sunderland won for the first time in 14 Premier League games with a 4-0 win over Bolton.

It took the former Tottenham striker's tally to 18 in the league this term, with only Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney ahead of him as the highest-scoring Englishman.

Capello has been unconvinced by his credentials thus far, but Bruce believes it is time the Italian sat up and took notice of his star striker, who has been carrying the Black Cats with his goals.

"It's a magnification return and he must be knocking on the door," Bruce told Sky Sports.

"When you consider the position we are in - 18 goals in the bottom half of the table is quite magnificent.

"I'm sure there is still a lot more he can add before the end of the season and that will give him that chance of playing in the World Cup.

"A goalscorer is a goalscorer. For me, we haven't got many (English ones) in the Premier League.

"We look at (Jermaine) Defoe, who is a natural goal-scorer and of course (Wayne) Rooney. But after that you think 'who is the most natural goalscorer'.

"He's (Bent) always got goals in the Premier League and, for me, he deserves his chance."

Relieved

Bruce appeared relieved at having ended the long sequence without a win, which has seen a promising season turn sour over the past three months.

The former Wigan boss insists his side had to up their game to overturn their fortunes and praised Fraizer Campbell's 41-second opener for setting the tone of the match.

"You need something like that to give everybody a huge lift," said Bruce.

"I was delighted with Fraizer. I've asked him to play in a different position to what he's used to and he'll get better at it and that will do him the world of good.

"When a little bit of luck deserts you we need a performance and a victory to give everybody that lift and that little bit of confidence.

"As you could see towards the end, everybody wanted the ball, everybody wanted to take part in it. Last week we couldn't get anybody to take part.

"That's what happens but we'll certainly learn from it. It's been a tough time but, thankfully, we've got a result tonight."

Bruce never appeared to be under pressure from the Sunderland faithful during the lean spell, but he admits it was difficult to stay positive during the 14 games without victory.

"The one thing you have to do in management is keep at it and stay positive, which is very difficult to do when you haven't had a win in three months.

"But you learn from it and you get experience from it and I don't want it to happen again, but the support from everyone has been great"

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