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By The Black Cats
October 4 2010

You know your club is on the up and up when you go into a match with Manchester United expecting at least a point and even more so when you're disappointed when you don't take all three. That is the position Sunderland now find themselves in.

After taking 6 points from the top 4 or 5 teams everyone at the club is full of confidence.

Those points include a home win against Manchester City (3), a draw away at Liverpool (1) in a game we were unlucky not to win where the powers that be went against us, a home draw against Arsenal (1) which took a freak goal for the Gunners to earn a point and a no score draw at home to Manchester United (1) in a game which only one side could have won, and that team wasn't the great Manchester United.

What Sunderland now need to do is reproduce the form and desire that they have displayed against the big teams against the not so big teams.

Teams such as Birmingham, West Brom and Wigan - all games we should be expecting to take all three points from especially when we have a two goal lead as was the case against Birmingham on the opening day of the season.

At the start of the season the majority of Sunderland fans thought we'd be struggling at the bottom of the table after the run of games which would see us play Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United.

But that's not the case. 

The good results against these teams has seen the Black Cats move up to 10th place, which is excellent considering the opposition and with winnable games against Blackburn, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Stoke coming up in the next month or so things will hopefully get even better for the Black Cats.

Bruce said: "The performance was terrific I couldn't have been more pleased with it. That's eight points we've taken now from the top teams.

"It's been hard work and it's been hard fought and we've only got eight points from it. On another day we might have got more, but I'm really pleased with the result and of course the performance.

"Sunderland had the best of the chances with Darren Bent going close on a number of ocassions and Asamoah Gyan's over-head kick, moments after he came on, going just wide.

Before adding: "We had plenty of chances and we've got to start taking these chances. We can't keep relying on Darren Bent or Asamoah Gyan to score, that's the only critical thing I could say, that we didn't take our chances.

"Manchester United are always a threat. Late on you're thinking please don't score, our performance doesn't deserve that. How many times do you see them score in the last five minutes, that's the type of team they are, a constant threat.

"Overall I'm delighted with the performance. It was well deserved."

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