STEVE BRUCE was back at the Academy of Light training complex yesterday to begin the process of trying to emerge from the deep mess he finds himself in as Sunderland manager.

He is expected to discuss the situation with owner Ellis Short in the next 48 hours, but Bruce is going about his job as normal. He took his first team squad's first training session of the week as preparations began for the next crucial fixture of his reign.

It remains to be seen if Bruce will be given the chance to try to redress Sunderland's situation at Wolves on Sunday, when a victory looks essential if he is to stay in his job.

And he will use this week to try to convince Short that he is still up to leading his team to a top ten finish this season.

His two-and-a-half year reign appeared to reach breaking point during Saturday's defeat to the Premier League's bottom club, Wigan, when thousands of Sunderland fans started to hurl abuse in his direction, demanding his removal.

But in an ongoing online poll conducted by the Sunderland Echo last night, which had attracted more than 50,000 votes, it revealed more than 38,000 wanted him to be replaced, while a substantial 16,500 felt he should be given the time to turn things around.

Owner Ellis Short has not rushed in to anything on the back of Saturday's defeat, but Bruce can ill-afford any further bad results after his relationship with many of the club's fans reached new lows.

However, having spent time changing the club's coaching staff and altering the personnel within the squad, it is thought Bruce could be given the next game, at least, to turn things around.

As it happens Sunderland, two points above the bottom three and five adrift of tenth, will head to Wolves this weekend with a stronger away record than what they have been achieving at the Stadium of Light.

Wigan's victory was Sunderland's tenth home defeat of the calendar year, which further damaged a record of 29 wins from his 98 matches in charge since taking over from Rocky Sbragia in the summer of 2009.

Speaking ahead of the visit of Wigan, Bruce was convinced that better form was around the corner - and he is hopeful Sunderland will be in the top half of the Premier League before the end of the year.

He said: "Why (is away form better than home)? It's quite incredible. When I first came our home form was absolutely appalling, then we went a year without getting beaten. Since 2011 it hasn't gone as well for us.

"It's what the Premier League is, unfortunately. You see other teams, like Stoke, have the same sort of thing. You're going to go through spells and periods where it becomes very difficult, and it has been.

"You can do one of two things, you can keep at it or you can just throw in the towel. That's not in my nature so we'll just keep at it. The top ten is where we want to be going into the Christmas period."

If Bruce can keep his job beyond the trip to Molineux then he is hopeful of having strikers Fraizer Campbell, who has not played since breaking down with a knee injury in August last year, and Connor Wickham back to boost his strikeforce.

Sunderland's biggest problem in the last 11 months has been scoring goals, highlighted by the fact they have only managed two goals or more on four occasions this season.

"We hope that Fraizer can play in a game in the next ten days or so and let's hope we can get him up and ready," said Bruce. "That would be a massive boost to everybody, because he's been out that long, we've forgotten what a very good player we've lost over the last few months.

"We hope that him and Connor Wickham can come back in and be fit. Fraizer's a very, very good player and we hope he can shake off the injury. He will give the whole team and club a lift if he can get back to playing the way he was."