No Friend of Bruce's

Steve Bruce feels that his team need to be more ruthless in front of goal and make the most of their chances. But he also believes that Saturday's referee Kevin Friend should have been more ruthless and sent off Tottenham keeper Heurelho Gomes when he gave away a penalty after sending Darren Bent tumbling to the ground.

Video replays may suggest that Bent was already going over before Gomes touched him, however I do feel that it was a penalty as there was contact. Plus the referee failed to give an even more blatant penalty when a similar occurrence had happened earlier in the game, so perhaps had this in mind.

I don't agree with Bruce though about the sending off. Forgive me as I am not 100% clear on the laws of the game, as many people are, but I think a red card for Gomes would have been harsh, it was not a malicious challenge and their was another defender close-by. I feel that the yellow card shown and the penalty were sufficient enough. Unfortunately Gomes saved from Bent and we missed the opportunity to draw level at 1-1. With Spurs midfielder Tom Huddlestone then doubling the lead at the Lane with a tremendous drive from just outside the area.

Huddlestone has been called up to the England side to play Brazil next week, along with our very own Darren Bent, finally. Isn't it funny that at the start of the season Bent was banging them in left, right and centre but was never re-called, he then goes and misses a pen and hasn't scored in the previous three games but is included.

Note to Michael Owen, miss an important penalty at the next opportunity and you will qualify for Mr Capello's squad.

Sunderland were said to be the more dominant side over Spurs, but just did not make it count. Ever since the beach ball, nothing seems to really be going for us, but with the international break, Bruce now has two weeks to put things right and prepare his side for our next game, at home to Arsenal.