Steve Bruce: We blew our chance

Feb 21 2010 by James Hunter, Sunday Sun

STEVE BRUCE was left ruing missed chances as Sunderland’s winless streak continued at Arsenal.

The Black Cats lost 2-0 at the Emirates but had Kenwyne Jones, Darren Bent or Fraizer Campbell made more of the opportunities that came their way when the score stood at 1-0, it could have been a different story.

Jones missed the target when one-on-one with keeper Manuel Alumnia, Campbell couldn’t finish the half-chance that fell to him and Bent carried on despite being tugged back by defender Mikael Silvestre, only to be denied by the keeper.

Bruce said: “We had great chances. I think we’ve had more chances than I have had coming here in 10 years as a player or a manager!”

“It’s a little bit disappointing that we haven’t taken something from it.

“We had to ride our luck in the first 20 minutes, but the longer the game went on the more we came into it and with a bit of luck we might have taken something from it.

“I’m not going to single out Kenwyne’s miss, but when you come to Arsenal you have to take your chances.

“Fraizer had one and Benty had one, too. Benty’s chance was a big decision . . . it was a turning point in the game. Was it a penalty or was it just outside the box?

“But Darren’s honesty kept him in there, he stayed on his feet and his shot was saved.