Sunderland midfielder Bolo Zenden knows that the poor run of form that seen the Black Cats slip down the league will take hard work and commitment to turn around.

 

The injury time equaliser conceded at Fratton Park on Tuesday night helped continue a winless steak that has stretched from late November. However, the former Liverpool, Chelsea and Middlesbrough player is ready for the fight."Any team gets a difficult spell and a period where things are not going their way, although ours is longer than I'm used to. We desperately want to give the fans something back because they deserve that. At the minute, it's like we are standing in the corner receiving all the punches, and we have to work hard to get out of it."

Sunderland’s cause was not helped by the double dismissal of Lee Cattermole and David Meyler and manager Steve Bruce was extremely angry with the duo especially as Pompey were 1-0 down and down to ten men themselves at the time. "Two of them (red cards) are stupid, you can't defend them," he said. "We didn't need to give him a decision to make. I can't defend the two of them and it's cost us the match. We needed to be more professional and not do anything stupid. And we did that."

Steed Malbranque has been well enough to return to the North East following his trip to hospital. The midfielder suffered from chest pains half way through the 1-1 draw but was discharged although the club medical staff will continue to monitor his progress.