Sunderland 3-1 Birmingham: The Daily Mirror match report

How much more has Darren Bent got to do to persuade Fabio Capello to take him to the World Cup?

He’s scored 21 goals in a team which struggled for three months – the best season of his life – and he’s up there in the Golden Boot stakes with Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres.

Yet the fear is Capello has his five favourites and will stick with them for South Africa at the expense of Sunderland’s prolific striker – a repeat of Bent’s snub from Sven Goran Eriksson four years ago when he’d scored 18 for Charlton.

The consolation for the former Spurs misfit is that he is establishing himself as a cult hero on Wearside.

He’s the first to harvest 20 goals at the Stadium Of Light since Kevin Phillips, now with Birmingham, 10 years ago.

Bent’s first season in the North East has been inspired by Phillips’ 30-goal haul in 1999-2000 which won the finisher a place in England’s Euro 2000 squad.

“Before I signed for Sunderland, Niall Quinn gave me a DVD of Kevin’s goals and said to me: ‘This is what you have got to emulate,’ revealed Bent after his two-goal haul destroyed the visitors.

“I thought to myself “ooh, OK, not much pressure there then!’

“I sat and watched the DVDs and got a feel for what it means to be a Sunderland striker and how special they are for the fans here.”

Phillips discovered for himself how hard it is to break into an England squad from the remote outpost of the North East.

In support of Bent’s international claims, Phillips said: “If he was playing for a top-four club then there would be no doubt about his place in the squad.

“It highlights what an achievement his is. When you are playing in a team that’s in the bottom half of the table....to have 21 goals is fantastic.

“I would take players to the World Cup who are on form. The year I scored 30 I went to Euro 2000 when perhaps a lot of people said I shouldn’t go.

“I would take him. He’s a natural finisher, you saw that today. And it looks like Jermain Defoe will be out for a while with a hamstring strain. All he can do is keep impressing and doing what he is doing.”

Bent’s first came from six yards after Benjani’s shot was deflected into his path by Stephen Carr. He had two inside 10 minutes when he was fed on the edge of the area by Steed Malbranque before firing home.

Sunderland’s brilliance in the first half was snuffed out by Birmingham’s spirited comeback after the break. Only another world-class show by keeper Craig Gordon prevented Alex McLeish’s side adding to Cameron Jerome’s 60th-minute goal.

Birmingham pushed for the leveller but were vulnerable at the back and that allowed Fraizer Campbell to grab a deciding third in the 88th minute.

The Mackems do not forget their legends and gave Phillips, who helped Sunderland to two seventh-place finishes under Peter Reid, a warm ovation.

He admitted: “It was hairs-on-the-back-of-my-neck stuff. I wasn’t expecting that.

“This was probably the last chance I will get to play here, The supporters were fantastic to me when I came here for six years and they have been fantastic when I have come back. If you do well in the North-East you’ll be loved. Darren Bent is certainly loved up here now.

“I don’t want him to go on and break my records. I would like them to stand a bit longer, but he’s doing a good job.”

Bent, who was left out of the last England squad, clearly believes he has done enough to book a World Cup ticket.

”I don’t think I can do any more than I am doing,” he said. “Every time I have been overlooked I have kept scoring.

“Of course I want to go to the World Cup. It is every player’s dream to play for his country in a major tournament and I won’t give up on that.

“You are never told why you are in or out of a squad. Maybe Mr Capello already has his five strikers in mind but that won’t stop me doing what I have been doing.

“If I get called up I will be more than ready. I feel as sharp and as strong as I ever have done.”