Thomas Sorensen will be rushed back to prop up Sunderland's wilting defence against Charlton tomorrow.

The Danish goalkeeper is still recovering from two operations on a broken nose. But Peter Reid hinted he would be pressed into action after a mistake by deputy Jurgen Macho helped Spurs to a 2-1 midweek win at the Stadium of Light.

Sorensen, who underwent surgery a week last Monday, was told not to play for ten days.

"It will be 13 days since the operation so he must have a chance," said Reid.

The Sunderland boss refused to criticise Macho, who allowed a 35-yard cross from Christian Ziege to drop over his head. "It was a bad goal to give away but we all make mistakes," he said.

Reid is stepping up his bid to sign West Ham's Trevor Sinclair following the defeat, Sunderland's first at home since April.

Sinclair remains Reid's top target and he is prepared to make the £6m winger the highest wage-earner at the club by offering a basic £35,000 a week deal.

Kevin Phillips meanwhile has given a brutal assessment of Sunderland's start to the season after jumping to the top of the club's post-war scoring charts.

Phillips has scored three of the club's four goals in six Premiership games to take his tally to 99 League goals and overtake previous record holder Len Shackleton.

The England striker could hit the century against Charlton tomorrow in only 146 appearances.

But he wasn't happy yesterday when he said: "It's not about me, it's about the team and it's about winning. I want to keep scoring goals but the Spurs game typified the way we have begun the season.

"We haven't started well, we haven't played well and we have looked poor at times.

"It's a case of grinding out results at the moment. We have been in this situation before and we have the people to get us going again."

Phillips praised Spurs but added: "We made a fight of it in the last 15 minutes but that wasn't good enough. I don't think we deserved a point over the 90 minutes.

"You always expect to win when you play at home, especially with our home record, so we were disappointed."

Full back Bernt Haas believes that Black Cat fans have a key role to play in the club's bid for success this season. Swiss international Haas was bowled over by the supporters' fervour despite the defeat.

He revealed: "I've played in front of crowds like that in the Champions League, at places like Real Madrid, but at Sunderland it happens every week. They were amazing in urging us on when we were 2-0 down.

"I am used to crowds of 5,000 or 6,000 in Switzerland but nothing like this. It simply makes us more determined to put things right against Charlton on Saturday."

The defeat prevented Sunderland joining Leeds and Bolton on top of the Premiership table. It was the club's 12th in 101 competitive games at the Stadium of Light.

l Wolves manager Dave Jones will welcome Alex Rae straight into the squad as his side look to continue their unbeaten start in the league in the Black Country derby at Walsall tonight.

Rae, 32, finally completed his £1.2m switch from Sunderland to end Jones' long-term pursuit of the former Millwall player.

Jones was further boosted as he has no new injuries or suspensions The only loss comes with Marlon Beresford being recalled by Middlesbrough after a loan spell with Wanderers