Steve promises to stay positive
STEVE Bruce has promised he will continue with the same positive approach against the likes of Birmingham City as he has against Manchester United and Liverpool in recent weeks.
And he admits that the form of Kenwyne Jones and Darren Bent up front is make the attacking policy and easy one to opt for.
Bruce said: "When I first got this job in the summer I said that one of the major problems the team had was not scoring enough goals.
"And I said then that it was something I wanted to address – I want us to play good attacking football.
"But I've got to say that the form and goals of Kenwyne and Darren has been a real boost to us and going to Manchester United, it made that difficult decision of whether to play one or two up front a lot easier.
Now Bruce is hoping that having produced excellent results at the Stadium of Light and gone on a run of five straight home wins, that he can improve the club's record on the road where defeats have come to Burnley at Turf Moor and Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.
He mused: "Generally speaking, I would say we have clicked in bits and pieces in away games. We've played in fits and starts.
"If there's one game where you can put your finger on it and say, 'yeah we got it right in that game', then it's our last away match, the one at Manchester United.
"So that's the sort of performance we have to look to replicate.
"Looking back over our last couple of matches has brought home something that I've always believed in – that if you don't offer a threat high up the pitch, then eventually - especially the big teams - they pick you off.
"The big teams will create a chance and be patient enough to get a goal at some stage - be it the 80th minute or 90th minute or even later.
"So going into those games and looking at our strikers, I was prepared to go two up front and it paid dividends.
"Birmingham will be a different game altogether but we still want to be positive.
"We'll still look to go there with every intention and belief that we'll get at least a point out of the game and maybe all three.
"We've not got to get ahead of ourselves and we've not got to get over-confident but by the same token, we've got to have confidence in ourselves and each other and look to continue the good run of the last few weeks with another good result on Saturday."
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Weather for South Shields
Friday 10 February 2012
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