Football: BRUCE IS A GOOD BET FOR BLUES.

Byline: IAN CLARKSON

STEVE Bruce just cannot stop beating Villa -as well as two victories last season, Bruce is also hammering David O'Leary at the races. Bruce has performed like a thoroughbred in a Charity tipping competition and bagged an impressive treble to double his money in the first week, but David O' Leary looked like a tired old nag as he sits at the bottom of the pile pounds 2,000 down.

Twelve of soccer's top bosses are going head to head in a three week battle to try and raise pounds 100,000 for charity and Bruce picked up an impressive treble to double his seven grand stake.

O' Leary sits at the bottom of the pile along withformer Villa great, Andy Gray.

And while many people might believe it is further proof that Bruce has a jinx over Villa, the Blues boss is quick to dismiss that sort of talk.

'All three horses we picked last week won on a treble at odds of 10-1,7-2 and 5-1,' he said.

'It is all for a good cause but any suggestion that I have any sort of Indian sign over Villa means absolutely nothing because it is all about who handles the situation better on the day and has that little bit of luck you require.

'What this does mean however, is that I have some inside information that is better than David's!'

Bruce might be used to Second City derbies these days, but he confesses that even with his experience in the game, the white hot atmosphere that was generated last season opened his eyes.

'I was surprised by the intensity of the game,' said Bruce. 'I have been involved in Manchester, East Anglian and watched North East derbies as a kid, but, probably because it hadn't happened for so long the atmosphere was something else last year.

'However, we don't want a repeat of what happened and I hope everyone behaves themselves and plays the game in the right spirit.

'There is a huge rivalry, but players and supporters all have a responsibility to make sure that people look and say what a cracking derby it was. We want people writing about the game for all the good aspects and not the ugly scenes that we witnessed last year.'

The game in general is definitely in need of a tonic after all the bad press that it has received over the last fortnight and Bruce is acutely aware of the image problem football now has.

'It has been horrific over the last couple of weeks and as bad as I can remember, which is sad for the game,' he said.

'Football can recover as it rolls on as always, but we need to get our house in order. There is a huge responsibility on everyone concerned with English football at present to clean up our act.'

CAPTION(S):

POINT TO PROVE... Lee Hendrie wants to show that he can cope with the derby atmosphere