Tottenham 2-0 Sunderland match report: The Sunday Mirror verdict

It was the return Darren Bent dreaded.

The £10million-plus striker regarded himself as a misfit at White Hart Lane during his two years at Tottenham. Unloved and unrated was his verdict on his time at the club.

What he wanted was the chance to show what Tottenham had lost when they sold him to Sunderland in the summer.

What he did gave ammunition to the chorus behind the goal at the Park Lane end of the ground.

“That’s why we sold you,” they sang after he saw his 51st-minute penalty saved by Heurelho Gomes.

There was also time to remind Bent of his horrendous miss at the other end of the stadium against Portsmouth last season, when manager Harry Redknapp famously declared his wife Sandra could have scored.

The fans taunted Bent with: “We’d rather have Sandra,” as he wore a look of deep frustration after squandering the chance to give Sunderland what would have been a deserved equaliser.

It was a depressing day for Bent and his new club. There were two key decisions in the match and both went against them.

From the sixth minute it had the look of a match when nothing would go right for them.

That was when Bent pulled the Tottenham defence apart and crossed low to give Jordan Henderson a chance from six yards out. Somehow, the young midfielder put the ball wide and from then it was downhill.

Boss Steve Bruce patrolled the technical area frequently looking exasperated by officiating which he clearly felt favoured Tottenham.

He may have had a point in the 12th minute when Robbie Keane opened the scoring.

Peter Crouch headed the ball on and Keane managed to squeeze the ball past Craig Gordon at the second attempt from what looked suspiciously like an offside position.

Bruce’s demeanour was not helped by Sunderland’s failure to convert territorial domination into goals.

Redknapp had opted for the trio of Keane, Jermain Defoe and Crouch in the same line-up. That left Tottenham with goalpower but a lack of width and Sunderland duly capitalised on what seemed to be a disjointed Tottenham. Gomes, however, stood tall. The pick of his saves was a brave dive at the feet of Kieran Richardson.

Then came major flashpoint number two. Steed Malbranque – lively and inventive in midfield against his former club – threaded the ball through to Bent, who accelerated clear of Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King.  He knocked the ball past Gomes, who took away Bent’s legs.

Gomes was shown a yellow card by referee Kevin Friend, who immediately became the enemy of Bruce.

“It should have been a red card and I don’t accept the referee’s explantion as to why it wasn’t,” said Bruce. “He said he was taking the ball away from goal but for me it was a clear goalscoring opportunity.” The fact that Gomes not only saved the spot-kick but also produced a series of saves that, for Bruce, made him “their best player” did not temper his mood.

“OK, so the substitute goalkeeper may have saved the penalty but that would still have meant we would have been against 10 men for more than half an hour.

“I can’t complain at the way we played. We could have had four goals by half-time. All I know is that since we scored the beach ball goal against Liverpool we have had no luck.”

Redknapp was happy to ride his fortune and was sharp enough to change the shape of the team on the hour.  Off came Keane and on came Nico Kranjcar.

The balance was better, the width returned and Tottenham looked more incisive as Defoe – in front of England manager Fabio Capello – became increasingly involved.

He duly laid on the second goal with a pass across the area that provoked a thunderous 20-yard effort from Tom Huddlestone.

The misery for Bent and Sunderland was complete.