CRAIG GORDON might not be assured of his place as Sunderland’s first choice goalkeeper, but manager Steve Bruce believes recent performances prove he is the “real deal”.

Gordon has endured a stopstart two years on Wearside following his £9m move from Hearts.

But Bruce feels the Scotland international is starting to show why Roy Keane was so determined to land the goalkeeper – breaking a British record transfer fee in the process.

And the recruitment of Nigel Spink as goalkeeper coach in the summer has had a positive effect on Gordon according to the Sunderland boss.

“He is getting where he should be, he struggled a bit last year with injuries and all the rest of it and he had a bad knee when we came,” said Bruce. “He is someone who just needs a little bit of confidence and certainly he is producing again.

“He made a couple of terrific saves against West Ham when we needed him to, which were right out of the top drawer. He looks like the real deal again, doesn’t he?

Spink has worked hard with him. With the injury, we have made sure we have not rushed him back because that would have been quite easy.”

Sunderland, meanwhile, have been left counting the cost of the weekend draw with West Ham. Kenwyne Jones and Lorik Cana miss Saturday’s trip to Tottenham through suspension and there was a frustration that Sunderland had missed out on an opportunity to climb into the Premier League’s European places.

“From that point of view, we’re disappointed, but in all other respects, the organisation, the game, the spirit, we had a couple of opportunities to score three or four goals,”

said Cana.

“We got a draw at home on a day when we had a fantastic opportunity to go into the top six. We must learn from this and keep all the good things.

We must cope with certain positions better, such as the goal, but overall we’re really happy.”

■ Andy Reid has reaffirmed his desire to play for his country.

The Republic of Ireland international has been persistently overlooked by coach Giovanni Trapattoni since a fall-out 18 months ago.

Reid said: “I’m feeling good, I’m feeling confident and I feel fit, I’m playing some of the best football of my career.

“I’m going to continue what I’m doing and if I get the call to play for Ireland again, then brilliant. I’ve said all along I would love to play for Ireland again.”