Sunderland striker Bent using Phillips as inspiration

Sunderland striker Darren Bent admits he's leaning on Kevin Phillips as inspiration.

Black Cats legend Phillips faced his old club yesterday with Birmingham City and saw Bent score twice in their 3-1 defeat.

"It feels fantastic to get that honour and I'm delighted I've been having such a good season," Bent told SAFC-TV. "Obviously the main thing today is the three points.

"Before I signed I knew all about Kevin Phillips. People told me I could really do myself justice up here. The ovation Kevin got from the fans was fantastic and fully justified.

"I'm under no illusions that Kevin was a fantastic player, he scored lots of goals here and the fans loved him. It's my turn now, I'm at this football club and hopefully I can follow Kevin and carry on doing really well here."