Pleased Despite The Result

Steve Bruce has said he was proud of the spirit of the team for staging such a comeback, despite not walking away with a point.

Speaking to the official site, he said:

'It was a fantastic game of football and I can't be down on the players, but we've made fundamental defensive mistakes for at least three of the goals.

'The whole stadium was stunned and shocked that we were 3-0 down because we'd had a fantastic start and we could have quite easily been one or two up before they even managed to get into our half.

'We've looked rock solid in defence recently.

'But for the second goal, the goalkeeper who has played fantastically well recently, looked like he was cleaning windows and then Tiny who has had a terrific season hasn't picked up on the fourth one.

'It was something which you see on a playground really - a kick up the middle, we don't pick up and they have a flick on and he's through on our goal.

'But the resilience and attitude to get back into the game after that was fantastic and they showed a lot of courage.

'I thought at the top end of the pitch with Bendtner and McSheffrey we were fantastic.

'It's incredible the way it panned out but I'm just disappointed they didn't get at least a point, which is what they deserved.

'At half time and being 3-0 down away from home, if you just lie down it's going to be an embarrassment.

'I wanted them to show some pride and they did just that.

'We should have got something from the game, but sometimes in football you don't get your rewards and you're unlucky and this was one of those nights.

'But when I look at the game overall and the way we played, our attitude was terrific and if we keep going like that we'll be there or thereabouts.

'Right at the death we had five players up the pitch trying to get something and DJ who nicked the winner at Burnley could have been another hero today but it wasn't to be.

'We've played 11 games away from home, but we've now got two home games with Plymouth and Preston coming up and we've got to go again.

'Unfortunately our run's ended, so we've got to try and put another six or seven games back to back again if we can, and I think we've got the equipment to do it.'

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.