Bruce’s bone of contention

Feb 7 2010 by James Hunter, Sunday Sun

“You can see the difference the players who make up the spine of the team, if you like, make,” said Bruce.

“Against Stoke on Monday night, it was the first time we had had all four of them fit since we beat Liverpool back in October.

“We kept a clean sheet against Liverpool and again against Stoke. We had a lot more resilience and determination about us.

“I said all along that, once we got the spine of the team fit, we would be fine and I am still confident of that.

“The big challenge is keeping them fit. We’ve had big injury problems – a real catalogue of them, which seems to have been the situation for months.

“Of course, now they are fit, what we need now is our flair players to create chances for Benty.”

SUNDERLAND’S RECORD WITH SPINE: P6 W3 D3 L0 F13 A6WITHOUT SPINE: P18 W3 D4 L11 F18 A35