Sunderland were sucker-punched says Bruce

Aug 21 2011 by James Hunter, Sunday Sun

STEVE BRUCE admitted Sunderland were floored by a sucker-punch after dominating the derby.

The Black Cats created several chances in the first half against Newcastle but failed to make them count, before Ryan Taylor’s free-kick secured the bragging rights for the Magpies just after the hour.

Bruce said: “In a big game like this, with the dominance we had in the first half, we needed to score.

“The number of times we got down the side of them and created chances to score was incredible, really.

“But at this level, if you don’t take your chances when you are dominating, then you are always open to be caught by a sucker-punch, and that was what happened.

“The final ball, the final pass was missing and that is the ultimate thing at this level.

“You can’t totally dominate for 90 minutes – Newcastle were always going to come into the game a little bit, and they did.

“And it became a typical derby game in the last 25-30 minutes, which suited Newcastle and when they scored it was the turning point of the match.”

Taylor played under Bruce at Wigan and made a habit of scoring AGAINST Newcastle from set-pieces, but the Sunderland boss was disappointed at the ease with which the defender’s effort beat goalkeeper Simon Mignolet yesterday.

Bruce said: “I’ve seen Ryan Taylor do it umpteen times against Newcastle, ironically enough.

“But I thought it was a soft one, from our point of view. He shouldn’t have scored from there. It was a cheap free-kick to give away, and the goalkeeper’s positioning was not quite right.”