Julian Gray's second half goal was enough to see Blues register their first league victory since the 3-2 away win at West Brom at the end of August and Bruce is now hoping that the side can start winning some of their home games. "We've got eight points on the road, what we have to do is sort our home form out. "I thought we could cope with the injuries and stay out of the bottom three but it has proved too much at this level, you have to have your big players," he said. "We were disappointed when Monday's game against Bolton was called off, but the fact it meant we didn't have a game for three weeks enabled us to get players back from injury." "I'm delighted David Dunn got an hour in and his overall enthusiasm on the training ground pushes everybody else."
"That was a massive, massive win for us. We would have gone bottom of the pile if we had lost but we are better than that," he said after the 1-0 win at The Stadium Of Light.
"It's a long time since I enjoyed a Saturday night out and hopefully this is the start for us that we have been looking for."
Bruce was able to select from an almost fully-fit squad for the game against Sunderland and he admitted that the side have struggled without their so-called 'big players'.
David Dunn returned from his latest injury set-back along with Mario Melchiot and Damien Johnson and Bruce was pleased with Dunn's contribution.