NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Bruce must win Cup to convince Sunderland fans

Welcome to Sportsmail Online's weekly column - Northern Exposure. The Daily Mail's North-East football reporter, Colin Young (right), will provide expert analysis and a behind-the-scenes insight into the affairs of a footballing heartland. Don't miss it . If Steve Bruce is going to be taken seriously as Sunderland manager, he needs to win the Carling Cup. Simple as that. OK, so it's not likely to happen but the least Bruce and his current crop can manage is a decent run in a competition which Sunderland have hardly set alight across its 50 years. They have reached the final once (losing to Bruce and Norwich in 1985) and the semi-final once more when Peter Reid's side lost narrowly to Leicester. They have managed to consistently embarrass themselves in the League Cup's many guises. In recent years, Luton Town, Crewe Alexandra, Huddersfield Town and Sheffield United have all inflicted humiliation on Sunderland. And of course who could forget the defeat at Bury three years ago when they were bottom of the Football League? Niall Quinn certainly won't. It was his last game as a manager. Tonight's home tie with Birmingham City has all the makings of another cringing night for Sunderland and their supporters. Rampant after their convincing win at Hull City on Saturday, but hampered by an injury crisis which meant manager Alex McLeish could only name six substitutes at the KC Stadium, Bruce's former side should be Carling Cup fodder for this expensively assembled Sunderland squad. But as McLeish no doubt prepares to unleash Kevin Phillips on the Wearside public once again, the pressure is off the Blues, whose primary goal this season is, for once, achieving top flight survival. The Carling Cup is a bonus, and all that, but for Bruce it is serious business. Tonight's match programme, Red and White, features a fascinating double page feature on Sunderland's 50-year record in the League Cup, and aside from the 1985 run, and Peter Reid's push to the final four in 1999 and the quarter-finals two years later, it does not make pleasant reading. Even `success' has followed abject misery. Under Howard Wilkinson, Sunderland actually managed to win at Arsenal, having already trounced Cambridge 7-0 in Reid's penultimate game in charge. They went out in the next round to Sheffield United. As well as looking to compete with sides for a top ten finish this season, Bruce has set a personal target of making Sunderland a credible force in the two cup competitions and after their thumping win at Norwich in the previous round, the home tie against such a hampered Birmingham side presents the opportunity to progress. Bruce has vowed to field a strong side tonight, although it will be difficult to resist the temptation to wield his axe after the sorry defeat at Burnley on Saturday. Anton Ferdinand's visit to the last chance saloon at Turf Moor has opened the way for Bruce to test Paolo Da Silva and John Mensah tonight and no doubt the Sunderland manager will be hoping it is the start of extended runs for both seasoned defenders, who have yet to truly sample the delights of English football. The Sunderland boss also has interesting choices elsewhere on the pitch. Lee Cattermole is likely to be rested again, offering Bruce the chance to blood youngsters, while Kenwyne Jones will be expecting promotion from the bench where he has been employed for the start of the last two games. Bruce will expect nothing less than a win tonight, and Newcastle supporters travelling to Peterborough for their tie anticipate the same. Then it's over to the draw organisers to put the two together, so we get at least one North East, Tyne-Wear derby in this strange season. We're not asking for much. I won't be at the Stadium of Light tonight, as the prospect of a possible giant-killing tie awaits at Carlisle, who will be hosting pointless Portsmouth at Brunton Park. It could be a lively old night in Cumbria. And it also offers the opportunity to see my old pal Greg Abbott, once skipper of Hull City, now manager of Carlisle and, despite all the obstacles which a League One manager must address daily, `Abbo' is thoroughly enjoying himself. And he will be relishing the prospect of pitting his wits against Paul Hart in front of a hostile home crowd. Greg often credits himself as the man who set me on the path to national newspaper footballing reporting because I was the pen behind his award-winning captain's column once printed by the Hull Daily Mail. And he did teach me everything I know - not least the art of sweating off a midweek helping of fish and chips and a couple of pints of Tetleys in preparation for a weekend game. But then I reckon anyone who can put up with his awful jokes and re-write them with such skill was always destined for a brighter future.

Source: Daily_Mail