Sunderland’s Reid confident Bent will bounce back

Sunderland midfielder Andy Reid believes Darren Bent will not be affected by his penalty miss in the 2-0 loss to Tottenham on Saturday.

The in-form striker had his spot-kick saved by Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes, who Reid believes should have been sent off for his challenge on Bent, but is confident it will not play on the goalscorer’s mind too much.

"The keeper saved a penalty when perhaps he shouldn't even have been on the pitch,” said Reid.

“I don't want to get people sent off but those are the laws of the game. If he hadn’t brought him down, Darren Bent scores.

"I thought the referee got that wrong,” Reid said of the decision.

"But we have to take heart from the performance. Not too many teams play the kind of football we did.

"I don't want to slag off the ref, they have difficult jobs but maybe the crowd got on his back and maybe that pushed him to one side. But we can't use that as an excuse.

"Darren Bent will be just the same as he is for the next game. He will be desperate to put things right, anyone can miss a penalty so there's no blame attached.

"If the keeper had been sent off and we scored the penalty we would have gone on to win the game.

"Players can accept the minor decisions going wrong but it's the big ones which affect the outcomes of games that the players want to see the referee get right."