Saturday's 1-1 home draw with Wigan, which came five days after a depressing stalemate with Stoke at the Stadium of Light, saw two games the manager had identified as potentially season-defining come and go with barely a whimper.

The Black Cats are now without a league win in 11 attempts dating back to November 21 - the day they beat high-flying Arsenal to cement their solid start to the campaign - and have collected just five points from a possible 33 along the way.

They head for Portsmouth on Tuesday night and then the Gunners 11 days later looking uncomfortably over their shoulders with just four points separating them from the bottom three and the confidence fostered during the opening months of the campaign having dwindled away at an alarming rate.

But Bruce, as befits a man who has never shirked a challenge either as a player or since he took his first steps in management, will respond in the only way he knows.

He said: "That's the way it's going for us at the minute. But we have to keep at it. We can't throw in the towel, that's for sure.

"We will go again in the morning and get ready for Tuesday and hope we can go and turn our season around on Tuesday night.

"They are coming thick and fast and if we can get a good response down at Portsmouth, we know we are capable of going down there and winning the match."

If they are to do that, Bruce's side will have to start infinitely better than they did on Saturday when watching owner Ellis Short will have been as stunned as any fan by their ineptitude during a dreadful opening 45 minutes.

Sunderland were little short of pitiful as an expensively-assembled team featuring loan signing Alan Hutton was decidedly second best to a Wigan outfit which started the day two points worse off.

The visitors deservedly took the lead through Mohamed Diame's stunning 20th-minute strike, which came as a pleasant surprise to manager Roberto Martinez.

Martinez said: "I am sure he was surprised as well because I haven't seen him striking the ball like that before.

"But he deserved that because he works extremely hard for the team.

"Momo is settling in the Premier League with ease, which is a great compliment because playing in that position, it is full of athletes in the Premier League and he is enjoying his football.

"To see him striking a ball as clean as that, it was a great finish. I don't think you will see a better finish today in the Premier League."

The quality of Diame's strike was in stark contrast to the form of the home side, who were crippled by self-doubt and an inability to retain the ball for any significant period.

They were roundly booed by their own supporters at the half-time whistle despite Kenwyne Jones clipping the outside of the post with a deflected shot and Lee Cattermole forcing a good save from Chris Kirkland.

But they were much improved after the break and restored parity with 64 minutes gone when Jones powered home a header from Jordan Henderson's cross.

Sunderland might have won it at the death when leading scorer Darren Bent steered a shot towards the bottom corner, only to see it blocked by the unwitting Jones.

Bruce said: "It hits Kenwyne on the line, and that just about sums us up. We needed to nick the result and if we had done that, we would have got everybody running again.

"In the second half, we were much, much better, that was the positive. To be fair, we couldn't have been any worse than the first.

"There were a few things said at half-time, as you would expect, and at least there was a response and we performed in a manner where at least we took the ball and tried to do the right things in a football match.

"We reminded them that we have to try to get the ball down and try to play, and in the second half in particular, we had umpteen chances and we could have nicked it."

To make matters worse for Bruce, Henderson was stretchered off with an ankle injury which he fears could sideline the 19-year-old for several months.