STEVE BRUCE will spend the next 48 hours assessing goalkeeper options amid fears he will have only one recognised first team shot-stopper available for Saturday’s trip to Manchester United.

Belgian No 1 Simon Mignolet needed CT scans after suffering a badly broken nose as he cleared a corner early in the second half of the weekend draw with Aston Villa.

Bruce revealed afterwards it was ‘a bad one’ and that he is having to have his ‘cheekbone, jaw and teeth checked’ as well as his nose, which was bleeding profusely as he left the pitch.

With Craig Gordon still weeks away from returning from the knee problem that has kept him out for months, Bruce knows he will have a crisis on his hands if Keiren Westwood picks up any problem on the training ground this week.

“Craig’s nowhere near and Trevor Carson is on loan at Bury and hurt his back in the warm-up (before Saturday’s Stevenage game),” said Bruce.

“With Simon we will have to see how bad he is and see what the scans reveal.

“If it is just a broken nose then he will be able to have an operation but I would not think he will be available for Manchester. We will maybe have to look for special dispensation and get a loan somehow or possibly get a younger one.

We will see how it is in the next couple of days.”

When Bruce signed Westwood on a free after he left Coventry, it was expected the Republic of Ireland international would become Sunderland’s No 1 this season.

But a pre-season injury handed Mignolet the chance to stay in the team until Westwood was called into action against Aston Villa. He made one memorable save to deny Darren Bent from scoring against his old club.

“I am really pleased for Keiren because he hasn’t had a chance,” said Bruce. “If he had been an outfield player he probably would have had that chance.

“He has worked extremely hard and kept himself sharp, which is important. When he needed to make a save he made it and when you consider that was his debut in the Premier League, that makes it even better.

“We have seen Darren score from that position countless times, but thankfully it wasn’t to be. Keiren pulled off a great save. I have to admit I did expect Darren to stick it away.”

Mignolet’s injuries are not the only concerns for Bruce, who also fears defender John O’Shea will be sidelined for a number of weeks with his hamstring problem.

“It is a concern because he did it in Germany in pre-season,”

said Bruce, who is likely to field Phil Bardsley at rightback at Manchester United.

“It has happened at the wrong time because John was just starting to get his feet on the floor. He will be a big miss.”

Aside from the injuries, Bruce was satisfied with the way Sunderland responded to falling behind twice and he was particularly pleased with the contributions of Seb Larsson and Connor Wickham.

Larsson’s crossing ability was likened to David Beckham’s, while his teenage £8.1m striker was tipped to become a real star in the Premier League.

“I think Seb is as good as I have seen in the set piece delivery stakes and if there has been a better free transfer than him I would be staggered,” said Bruce.

“We scored last weekend from a corner and got the equaliser again against Villa through his deliveries.

“We knew he would give us that. It is a bit similar to what Ryan Taylor did for me at Wigan, I always had to find a place for him in my team because his delivery at set pieces was so good. Seb is up there, we have seen people like Beckham do it and he is certainly like that.”

After Wickham scored his first goal for the club, Bruce said: “At clubs like ours you need strikers who can make a difference and Connor has a fantastic chance to be a very good player.

“He has shown that with his left-foot finish. It is not often you get someone who is 6ft 4in with that mobility and the good thing is he can only get better. It is our job to look after him and also to make him better and let him fulfil that potential.”