The Black Cats take on Bolton Wanderers in a game billed as a relegation six-pointer in some quarters.

And a win tomorrow night will certainly make the Premier League table look so much better for the victors.

Bolton's 2-1 win at West Ham on Saturday saw them climb to 13th in the table – now two places and two points above Sunderland.

But while Bruce (right) appreciates the importance of the match, he says his players cannot allow that to cloud their minds.

"I want them to focus on the match and the match only," he said.

"There's 1,001 things that could distract them for that.

"There's the overwhelming desire of the fans to see us get the right result, the pressure of the long run without a win, the media pressure which develops because of our situation, and also the pressure they put on themselves to try and win.

"Against Fulham, I thought we had two distinct problems – we had one or two players who weren't playing with freedom because they lacked confidence and we had one or two players who were perhaps guilty of trying too hard.

"I know it sounds ridiculous to say you can try too hard but people in football will know what I mean – you've got to keep a cool head in tense games. Sometimes you can want to influence the result so much that you end up running yourself out or charging all over the place and not finding the time and space to put your foot on the ball or spot an opening.

"So what I will be urging the players to do is to just go out there and try to play with freedom, try to express themselves, put a foot on the ball, find their self-belief.

"It's an important game but Bolton are a side we've beaten once already and we were away from home when we did it.

"I know that every game is different but when we beat them last time we did it by doing two things – we matched them physically and we made sure we played our football when we could.

"If we concentrate on doing those two things again tomorrow night and succeed in doing it, I'll be satisfied with my players."