Black Cats warned by Bent

Bent: Not resting on laurels

A few people texted me and said, 'I have taken you out of my Dream Team and look what you have started doing'

Darren Bent
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Darren Bent has warned his Sunderland teammates against resting on their laurels after they finally ended their embarrassingly long winless record in midweek.

The Black Cats moved six points clear of the relegation zone after the 4-0 demolition of Bolton on Tuesday in what was their first win in 15 Premier League games.

Bent, who netted a hat trick in the Stadium of Light success to take his tally to 18 top-flight goals, hopes the Wearside outfit have turned a corner with 10 games left in the campaign.

"The main thing now is we build on what we did on Tuesday night, we don't sit back and think, 'Yeah, we are out of it' because we are by no means out of it at all," warned the 26-year-old striker.

"The main thing is now we kick on from Tuesday's result and take that into Sunday.

"Manchester City are a dangerous, dangerous side. They have got some world-class players in the side who can hurt anyone.

"But we know if we perform like we can do and play like we did on Tuesday and play like we did at their place - they beat us 4-3, but there were periods when we played them off the park.

"If we do that, anything is possible."

Tarnish

That seven-goal thriller at Eastlands on 19th December came just as the gloss on Sunderland's impressive start to the season started to tarnish.

The Black Cats found themselves 2-0 down within 12 minutes as first Roque Santa Cruz and then, from the penalty spot, Carlos Tevez beat Marton Fulop.

John Mensah and Jordan Henderson dragged the visitors back into it, but after Craig Bellamy and Kenwyne Jones had traded goals, Santa Cruz's second clinched the points for City.

The defeat came in the fifth game of what proved to be a 14-match run without a league victory which belatedly drew to a close on Tuesday evening.

Injury and suspension played a major role in that depressing sequence of results, which fostered an anxiety on the pitch which was close to crippling before the shackles were broken against Bolton.

Bent said: "I don't know what our problem has been, really, in the last couple of weeks, where we have got one up and then sat back and let teams come on to us.

"But on Tuesday night, we went for their throats. We all knew how important it was to everyone and we got the job done."

Goal target

Bent's goals have repeatedly got the job done this season - having now scored exactly half of the Black Cats' 36 strikes in the league this season.

But the former Tottenham, Charlton and Ipswich man insists he has not set himself any goals target for the season, despite being just one away from the 20 mark in all competitions.

"A few people texted me and said, 'I have taken you out of my Dream Team and look what you have started doing'," he said.

"In the last couple of weeks, I felt I had been a bit below par and not at my best, so it was nice to get back to form.

"Every striker I know wants to get to 20 goals, but my main objective was just to score as many as possible and help Sunderland have a really good season.

"That's all I'm asking for."