The Black Cats ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at West Ham as goals from Bolo Zenden, Stephane Sessegnon and Cristian Riveros secured an easy victory. It means Sunderland ended the campaign in 10th, above the Magpies, who squandered a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 at home to West Brom. Bruce was pleased with the performance at Upton Park and was satisfied to see his side finish in the top half. "I'm delighted for us and all Sunderland fans. We set out to be in the top 10 and we've had a pretty awful three months," he said. "We've put in back-to-back victories away from home, I thought we were well worth it today, and to go up four places, to finish above Newcastle for the third time in the last three years is obviously very pleasing for the supporters. "To finish in the top 10, for the third time in 55 years I believe, shows we've made a bit of progress and the next step is can we keep improving? "We've been badly injured and badly hampered by the loss of key players but to finish in the top 10 is very, very pleasing. I'm delighted for the club." Bruce is now looking to build for the future and he is hoping to make changes to his squad during the summer. "We've got to strengthen the squad. We've got to knock the door and ask for more, that's my job," he remarked. "I'll sit down with the board. We went in to bat with five loan players, we've made one of them permanent but we've still got decisions on (Nedum) Onuoha, (Jonathan) Mensah and Danny Welbeck - I expect him to go back to Manchester United. "I'll make a decision on Mensah this week in the cold light of day." He added: "I've been linked with about 50 players. My job is to keep improving us and to knock the owners again. We'll see what we've got to spend."
