STEVE BRUCE is delighted with his Sunderland side’s recent defensive displays and has praised the impact of John O’Shea and Wes Brown following their summer moves from Manchester United.

The Black Cats’ backline was rarely troubled as they kept their fourth Premier League clean sheet of the season at the weekend, and only four top-flight sides have shipped less goals than the Wearsiders.

Last season, Bruce felt his team was too porous, a deficiency that contributed to a wretched run in the second half of the campaign.

Things look much tighter this time around, with the arrival of O’Shea and Brown having had a positive effect on defensive performances.

Brown has played in all 12 of Sunderland’s league games, while O’Shea returned from a hamstring injury to help shut out a Fulham side that featured England international Bobby Zamora and the highlyrated Moussa Dembele.

“There’s a real settled look to the back four, which I’m very pleased about,” said Bruce. “Defence is an area in which we’ve needed to improve in past years and I believe we have done that, particularly with the addition of John and Wes.

“It’s always tough for a player when they’ve missed all of the pre-season, which John has. But we’re just starting to see him perform as he can.

He’s a top-class player and a top-class professional.”

Last weekend’s disciplined defensive display was aided by the presence of Lee Cattermole in front of the back four.

The Sunderland skipper found himself dropped to the bench as he struggled to hit top form earlier this season, but his last two performances, against Manchester United and Fulham, have returned to the standards he has set for himself in the majority of his career.

Cattermole’s role in the side was questioned in the summer, with O’Shea’s arrival accompanied by a series of articles in Ireland suggesting he had been promised the captain’s armband.

Bruce insists this was never the case, but Cattermole admits he was adversely affected by the uncertainty.

“John came in during the summer and straight away, all the headlines were, ‘Lee loses the captaincy’,” said the Stockton-born midfielder.

“Maybe that put a bit of doubt in my mind. The gaffer made it clear to me that that wasn’t going to be the case, but it’s stuff that adds up and you start asking questions of yourself.

“I’m a confident lad, though, and I don’t think you become a bad player overnight. If you look at the amount of games I’ve played for my age, there won’t be many in the country who’ve played more.

“I’ve been a regular now for a long time and I’m really hungry. I thought I did well at Man United and had a decent game last weekend. It’s been hard, but I think it’s going to make me a better player.”

• Former Sunderland midfielder Bolo Zenden is considering an offer to join Championship strugglers Doncaster Rovers after a proposed move to Celtic broke down.

Zenden, who has been a free agent since leaving the Stadium of Light at the end of last season, could join ex-Sunderland duo El-Hadji Diouf and Pascal Chimbonda at the Keepmoat Stadium.