Cats in clover as Bruce savours success at last

NINE games without a win, injuries piling up and rumblings of discontent among supporters, Steve Bruce must have felt like retracing his steps to see just where he walked under that ladder, or, the height of irony, had his path crossed by a black cat.

If it wasn’t for bad luck of late, the Sunderland manager wouldn’t have had any luck to speak of, but in the end, everything was put right by a four-leaf clover.

How else to explain a stunning change in fortune, which saw a club now without a recognised forward score three times in the space of 11 second-half minutes, as many as they had managed in their previous seven matches? “A lady gave me a four-leaf clover,” Bruce revealed, after housing the lucky keepsake in his inside suit pocket as his side ended a 91-day wait for a victory, one that barring a freak set of results guarantees a fifth successive season of top flight football on Wearside.