Steve Bruce hopes Sunderland's loyal travelling army will have something to celebrate at Fratton Park tonight.

Over 1,000 Black Cats fans have already purchased tickets for the game - despite Pompey's home being located more than 330 miles away from the Stadium of Light.

And Bruce wants to reward the club's supporters with a long-awaited win on the south coast following disappointment in the FA Cup.

"It's incredible that we have 1,000 fans travelling to Portsmouth on a Tuesday night and I want to thank each and every one of them very much," Bruce told safc.com.

"I hope we can go there and produce a performance to get us a result and kick-start our season. We have a fantastic level of support here.

"We need a result, it's as simple as that. We've drawn too many games recently but I can see green shoots and we're coming back a bit.

"The second half was okay on Saturday and we need to find that confidence which a win will give us. Once we do that, we'll be fine, I'm sure of it."

Kenwyne Jones continued his recent resurgence with the equaliser against Wigan on Saturday following his man of the match performance against Stoke.

The powerhouse from Trinidad is likely to start up front alongside strike partner Darren Bent this evening after winning praise from his manager.

Jones has now scored seven goals during the 2009-10 campaign and Bruce admitted: "I thought Kenwyne's performance [on Saturday] was easily his best of the season.

"It's come just at the right time as well. Kenwyne was terrific and he's set the benchmark for himself. We all know he's got ability, that's never been in question.

"On Saturday he applied the whole thing and the real Kenwyne Jones was on show."

Pompey remain rooted to the bottom of the Barclays Premier League but have the upper hand on Sunderland having already registered a win and a draw against the Black Cats this season.

The financial problems rumble on at Fratton Park after former chairman Ali Al Faraj relinquished control of the club last week.

Pompey's off-field worries may be multiplying, but Bruce is confident the club's squad will be fully focused on playing matters.

"One thing about them is that they'll be used to it," he said. "Football players just want to play football.

"Of course they will worry if they don't get paid at the end of the month, as anyone would in that situation.

"To be fair to Avram and his players, we had them watched against Fulham and they played very well and were unlucky not to get something.

"They have stuck at it, as we saw down there in the cup. They still have a decent team, but if we apply ourselves properly and do our jobs then we can get a result."