The fruits of success are starting to ripen in the North East as Sunderland continue their early season momentum. After a thumping 5-2 win at the weekend against Wolves, the Black Cats manager, Steve Bruce, says he is ready to turn his club into an efficiency machine.

A lot of people were not sure about how Sunderland would perform this season and it seems that they could well end up pushing for a European place. They spent a lot of money during the summer and with this comes a lot of pressure and expectancy to do well.

Bruce said: “[Speaking about the weekend match] That’s something you do at the park because one of your mates wants to score. That’s the mentality we have to change. Benty is the best penalty- taker in the country and there would have been hell to pay if Kenwyne had missed.”

“I don’t watch penalties because I’m superstitious, so here was me thinking Darren had got a hat-trick! It won’t happen again.”

Wolves boss, Mick McCarthy, added: “If we’re talking about the frustrating days I’ve had, I’ll be here a long time, but the swingometer is stuck somewhere between pleasing and frustrating. We should have got something from the game.”

The point that Bruce is trying to make is that he wants his team to be efficient first and win the game before mixing things up and experimenting. Bent could easily have had a hat trick but decided to let someone else take the penalty kick.

All strikers playing in the Premier League should be greedy and as hungry as they possibly can be. If you get the chance to put the ball down and score from 12 yards then you do not often let someone else pick up the ball and have a go.

It does not make much sense and little decisions like this may not be thought about at the time but it is clear that Bruce remembers them and will not let the matter go lightly.

What Sunderland need to do now is focus completely on doing well. If they can keep this form going then there is no reason at all why they can not do very well this season. The point is they need to be consistent, this is how all of the top sides do well and perform well.

If they can’t do this then they will do what happened to Aston Villa last season and slip right off the pace to finish in mid table where the situation does not help anyone at the club.