Sunderland's shackles were broken on Tuesday night when they demolished Bolton 4-0 at the Stadium of Light.

The win was the Black Cats' first in 14 outings, led by a second-half hat-trick by Darren Bent plus an early goal to Fraizer Campbell, and Bruce was confident the three points would give the players a real lift.

"You need something like that to give everybody a huge lift," Bruce told Sky Sports.

"I was delighted with Fraizer. I've asked him to play in a different position to what he's used to and he'll get better at it and that will do him the world of good.

"When a little bit of luck deserts you we need a performance and a victory to give everybody that lift and that little bit of confidence.

"As you could see towards the end, everybody wanted the ball, everybody wanted to take part in it. Last week we couldn't get anybody to take part.

"That's what happens but we'll certainly learn from it. It's been a tough time but, thankfully, we've got a result tonight."