Bruce is making case for defence; Cats manager puts case for defence.

Byline: Stuart Rayner

STEVE Bruce will step up his attempts to strengthen Sunderland's defence this week after seeing last season's back four given a tough time by Heart of Midlothian in their final pre-season fixture.

But with players scattered around the globe on international duty in the coming days and "nothing in the pipeline", Bruce might have to wait until the new Premier League season is underway.

Portsmouth centre-back Sylvain Distin remains his top target, but the Corbridge-born manager confirmed his interest in Ghanaian John Mensah, and is also monitoring Lucas Neill.

Although David Obua was the only home player to find the net in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Hearts at Tynecastle, M[sz]rton Fl|p was Sunderland's best performer on the day and by far the busier of the two goalkeepers.

It was the big negative from a day when Darren Bent scored on his Black Cats debut.

Bruce was anxious not to lay all the blame at the feet of the back four, but admitted afterwards he needs to make his reshaped team harder to break down.

"I haven't really targeted signings before Saturday but before the end of the window I would hope we can get a couple of players in," Bruce admitted. "I realise we're a bit short defensively.

"We haven't got much in the pipeline at the moment but we're still working extremely hard to try and improve."

So far this summer Bruce has only signed one defender - centreback Paulo Da Silva, who was last week voted the best defender in last season's Mexican League.

But two-and-a-half weeks after joining, the Paraguayan is still awaiting a work permit and will not be match-fit for Saturday's trip to Bolton Wanderers. Bruce was guarded when asked about Mensah and Distin, who is also interesting Liverpool and Aston Villa, but did not say anything to discourage speculation. "It would be wrong of me to comment on other people's players. He's a player we've liked and admired," is all Bruce would say on Distin. When asked about Mensah, he joked: "I've been mentioned now with 77 players in six weeks. Not bad. I've signed four of them." But he admitted: "It's someone we're looking at, yeah." The 26-year-old missed Lyon's 2-2 weekend draw at Le Mans through suspension. Significantly for a manager concerned about the lack of options across his defence, Mensah played a large number of games in both full-back positions last season. One newspaper reported yesterday that a loan had been agreed, although Bruce's comments suggest that was premature. West Ham United and Portsmouth are also said to have expressed an interest, but are a very long way from being able to compete financially with the Wearsiders. Bruce's options are not expected to be reduced by Nyron Nosworthy's finger injury at Tynecastle.

The central defender had his hand stitched and suffered a fractured finger, but is expected to face Bolton in the first Premier League match of the season. New signing Lorik Cana filled in at centre-back after Nosworthy's 79thminute withdrawal and his performance might encourage Bruce to renew his interest in Wigan Athletic's Lee Cattermole. Cattermole and Cana perform similar midfield roles, but the Albanian looked assured in the heart of defence. Neill's West Ham team-mate Matthew Upson could also be a potential target after weekend reports suggested the Hammers may be forced to sell the centre-back. Bruce kick-started Upson's career by buying him from Arsenal for Birmingham City six years ago. But having capitalised on injuries to become an England regular last season, Manchester City are expected to turn to the 30-year-old if they accept defeat in their chase for Everton's Joleon Lescott. Fl|p was Sunderland's only international regular to start at the weekend, as Bruce limited the involvement of those expected to represent their countries this week. Craig Gordon is expected to play his first match since succumbing to a knee injury in April this week. Bruce will assess the quality of Guiseley's pitch before deciding whether the Scot should play there for the reserves tomorrow, or in a behind-closed-doors friendly.