Sunderland 3 Blackburn o: It's pie time for Steve Bruce

SUNDERLAND 3 -- BLACKBURN 0

STEVE BRUCE was tempted to party on last night and put his New Year resolution on hold.

The Sunderland boss admits he wants to cut out the comfort eating and lose weight because he is sick of people calling him Fat Head.

When the pressure becomes too much, Bruce likes a pork pie and a beer.

A few of those might have gone down a treat on New Years Eve when he celebrated his 50th birthday. And the fridge would have been in danger of being raided one more time after this welcome win following two successive defeats.

This victory tasted sweeter for Bruce as it was against the club who sacked his big mate Sam Allardyce last month.

Thats for Sam after the nonsense that went on with his sacking, said Bruce. I spoke to him this morning and I hope he has a drink in Dubai, where he is.

I know hes a pal, but the ludicrous situation they put themselves in is quite unbelievable. The people who have taken over at Blackburn, to sack somebody like Sam and appoint his coach, I find totally and utterly ridiculous. People in football have been saying, What the hells going on?

Bruce, whose side are sixth, said: With our first shot theres a deflected goal we had 32 or 33 shots against Blackpool and didnt find the net. Thats football it sends me to the fridge! Bents goal was straight from the training ground. Im pleased for him after all hes done for us in his time here. Class is permanent. He might miss a few chances he could have had a hat-trick but hes terrific.

But Bruce had bad news when he revealed: Lee Cattermole is out for a month. We think the injury is due to fatigue.

Bruce had said striker Bent had been feeling pressure after going five games without a goal and scoring only twice in 11 outings.

Bent ended his lean spell with the second goal in the 19th minute after Danny Welbecks effort had been deflected in off Blackburn skipper Ryan Nelsen. But Bent was also guilty of a glaring miss shortly after the hour-mark when he was wide from around four yards on the end of Kieran Richardsons left-wing centre.

Bent then misplaced his shooting boots again before his 81st-minute replacement, 13million club-record buy Asamoah Gyan, sealed the win a minute from time. The Ghana striker received the ball from Jordan Henderson and cut in from the left to curl in his seventh Sunderland goal.

Blackburn boss Steve Kean has made a stuttering start, but believes the clubs new owners, poultry giants Venkys, will be patient. He said: Its going to be a gradual process. The owners say they want to be challenging eventually.

The first task is to finish in the top half and in the summer get another few signings in and make a push for the top six. I dont think theyre expecting to be challenging for Europe this season.

On the game, he said: Its tough to take. The reaction of the lads is there wasnt three goals in it. If wed got a goal back with El-Hadji Dioufs chance, I felt we could have got back in the game.

Blackburn wantaway Chris Samba failed a fi! tness te st on an ankle injury to miss out again and join banned duo Michel Salgado and Nikola Kalinic on the sidelines.

The visitors could scarcely have made a worse start, conceding in only the 11th minute. Sunderland winger Ahmed Elmohamady swung a ball in from the right that was only half-cleared by Nelsen.

And when the ball fell to Welbeck, he controlled it on his chest before hitting a shot that struck Nelsen to leave keeper Mark Bunn deputising for the injured Paul Robinson without a hope.

Bunns first League start for his club proved a baptism of fire as he was forced to pick the ball out of the net again eight minutes later. Once more it was Elmohamady, on loan from Egyptian side ENPPI with a view to a permanent 2m deal, who supplied the right-wing ammunition and Bent got across his man in the middle to glance home stylishly.

Bent passed up another glorious opportunity two minutes later when he shot wide after Gael Givet had failed to cut out a Steed Malbranque cross, and drilled a 75th-minute left-foot effort wide, while Henderson hit the bar three minutes later.

But Gyan made sure a minute from time to wrap up a regulation victory with a fine individual goal.

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