Bruce's on-going and highly-publicised bid to bring Bent to the Stadium of Light took a bizarre twist on Friday when the player outlined his frustration on the internet networking site Twitter.

After watching his side beat Celtic 2-1 at Parkhead in a friendly, thanks to goals by Kieran Richardson and Kenwyne Jones, the Black Cats boss expressed his exasperation that no deal has yet been done.

"What time is it in America?" he said. "I think the Tottenham chairman Mr Levy is in America at the moment and talks are on-going.

"It is a frustrating time for everyone concerned but until we reach an agreement with Spurs then obviously we can't get the player.

"We thought we had an agreement a couple of times but things have changed.

"I have to say this though, there comes a time when I have to draw the line.

"I have been at it for weeks and one or two of our other targets have drifted away from us because I have been targeting Darren, but we will see."

Bruce was pleased with his team's performance against the Glasgow giants and singled out Richardson for special praise.

"I thought for an hour we played particularly well," he said.

"We got sloppy in the last half-hour and made it difficult for ourselves. But we looked like we had a cutting edge and should have been away in front. We had the chances and we obviously have to convert them.

"Kieran has come back in magnificent form and he is playing with a freedom. He had other chances, he has scored four goals in pre-season but I think he could have had eight.

"But he is getting through in to those positions and he is looking a class act, so we are delighted."

Before the kick-off there was a minute's applause as tribute to former England and Newcastle boss Sir Bobby Robson and former Motherwell player Paul McGrillen, who both died during the week.

The travelling fans admirably chanted Robson's name before the game and at the end and Bruce said: "I thought the fans were magnificent."