A SATISFIED Steve Bruce played down suggestions he was under heavy pressure to deliver a victory at Bolton, despite admitting that the strains of losing an early season Wear-Tyne derby has wreaked havoc on Sunderland’s start.

Two goals in the final eight minutes at the Reebok Stadium from Stephane Sessegnon and Nicklas Bendtner secured only the second win of the Black Cats’ campaign on Saturday.

It lifted Sunderland up to a more respectable mid-table position, a timely boost when they were hovering too close to the Premier League’s bottom three for comfort.

Bruce spent the summer restructuring his squad, with ten permanent new additions followed by the season-long loan acquisition of Bendtner from Arsenal, in August.

The Sunderland boss was relieved to have finally secured another win, but insists he has always held confidence his new-look squad would move up the division, given time.

“I was at Birmingham when the chairman said we needed to get four points out of the next two games and we lost the first one. I think that was a bit of pressure,” said Bruce.

“It’s never easy to manage in the North-East and thankfully with the experience that I’ve had in management, it’s helped me.

“I still couldn’t quell the frenzy of losing the second game of the season to Newcastle.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a couple of results afterwards to quieten the storm.

“But I’m not going to be detracted. We’ve got the makings of a decent team when they have all gelled together.

We’ve still got to improve but it’s been difficult.

“It’s been a difficult period but we’ve rolled up our sleeves. I’ve got a really good group of players who are honest and genuine.”

Indications that Sunderland’s situation would improve during a woeful first half were few and they looked anything but top-flight. They lacked creativity, were unable to retain possession and looked disjointed.

But after the restart Sunderland looked a completely different set-up – looking more like a team capable of finishing in the Premier League’s top ten.

“I just wanted them to relax and enjoy it,” said Bruce. “We looked nervous and edgy in the first half and you cannot play like that.

“We just had to calm them down, so we gave them a cup of tea and just said: ‘Try and enjoy it. Take the game towards them.’ Thankfully they did that and the real team turned up in the second half.”

While Sunderland defended strongly, the main reason for their success at the Reebok was that their forward thinking players suddenly found their feet.

Connor Wickham’s confidence increased the longer the game went on alongside Bendtner, while Sessegnon and Seb Larsson provided the width that has often been lacking.

Bruce said: “Let’s be fair, we were still throwing the team together when Nicklas arrived a month ago. He’s had a big impact on us.

“Nicklas, Sessegnon and Connor are good players. As is Seb Larsson. We just need them to settle into their environment, get a bit of confidence and everything will be fine.”

Bruce dismissed any suggestion that Bendtner, interesting Sevilla, could be sold by Arsenal before his loan comes to an end.

And the Sunderland boss is looking forward to working with the Danish striker, who has scored in each of his last two outings for the club, until the end of the season at least.

“You forget that he’s only 23 years of age. He’s just got Denmark through (to Euro 2012) after scoring against Portugal and he’s done really well for us,” said Bruce.

“I had a conversation with him after the game over a cup of tea. He’s got to set himself a target.

“He’s a very good finisher with both feet and his head.

There’s no reason why he can’t get you 15 goals per year.

“That’s enough these days. You rarely get players hitting 25 or 30 goals a season any more.”