Limp defending irks Bruce

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce lamented his side’s lack of defensive discipline after they slumped to a 2-0 loss to Everton at Goodison Park.

The defeat was a body blow for the Black Cats’ European hopes, as Bolton climbed into seventh place with their draw away to Newcastle.

“The reason why we’re having a decent season up to now is the resilience that we’ve shown and the ability to keep a clean sheet and not give any daft goals away,” Bruce said.

“Unfortunately, today, we have to say that we’ve given poor goals away. We were not really resilient enough and although the second half was a little bit better, the game was all over.”

“In the first half, the goals that we gave away summed our afternoon up.”

Former Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford was once again the hero for Everton, scoring twice to put a smile on manager David Moyes’ face.

“The one thing you can’t take away from Jermaine is his finishing,” Moyes said.

” In the box, the amount of times he gets chances, the attempts on goal he gets and that was the reason I signed him, because I thought that if you’re that type of player, I don’t think it changes, no matter what league you’re in,” Moyes said.