Mignolet breaks nose in Sunderland draw

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce revealed goalkeeper Simon Mignolet suffered a serious facial injury in the incident which forced his substitution just after half-time against Aston Villa.

Mignolet was injured in an accidental clash when pushing away a corner and was taken to hospital to undergo CT scans on a badly broken nose

Bruce said: "It's badly broken - he's had CT scans to check his jaw and cheekbones and teeth. The ball was fizzed in and Simon was brave enough to go for it."

Bruce heaped praise on substitute keeper Westwood, who marked his debut by diving bravely to deny what would have been a headline-grabbing goal for Darren Bent.

Bruce added: "Westy has saved us all. He has trained fantastically for weeks and weeks to get his chance and he has pulled off a great save."

Bruce conceded a draw was a fair result and praised the spirit in his side which helped them twice back from behind to rescue a point.

He added: "We have done something about it and a draw was a fair result. We edged the first half and Villa changed their system a little bit and edged the second.

"We have shown great spirit and resilience to get a result. Villa have good pace with (Gabriel) Agbonlahor, Bent and (Charles) N'Zogbia and it's not often get something when you're 2-1 down with three minutes to go."