DARREN Bent this week vowed to be patient in his bid to break into Tottenham s first-team strike force. As Spurs prepare to take on PSV Eindhoven, the England international, who came off the bench to score the last goal in Spurs 4-0 league win over West H

DARREN Bent this week vowed to be patient in his bid to break into Tottenham's first-team strike force.

As Spurs prepare to take on PSV Eindhoven, the England international, who came off the bench to score the last goal in Spurs 4-0 league win over West Ham on Sunday, admitted that he has struggled to establish himself at the Lane following his £16.5million move from Charlton Athletic.

"There is no hiding the fact that Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane are the manager's first choice," Bent told Ham&High Sport. "The front two are playing fantastically well at the moment. As a partnership Berba and Keano have already scored 40 goals between them.

"It is going to be difficult to dislodge them. But I know what I need to do and as long as I'm part of a good team like Tottenham I am happy."

However, Bent, a prolific scorer at the Valley, has only started nine Premier League matches this season - despite the departure of Jermain Defoe to Portsmouth. Yet, the 24-year-old has no plans to leave during the summer.

"I have not even been here for a whole season so it is too soon to be thinking about that," said Bent. "If I was two or three years down the line and I was still not playing I would have to think about it.

"There has been a lot of speculation saying that I want to leave, but I know I want to be here.

"Anyone who knows me will know how frustrated I have been. All I want to do is play games. But I need to bide my time. I will keep going and see what happens."

Bent said he was delighted to have finally got off the mark for Tottenham - it was also his 100th goal in all competitions.

"It was nice to get on and score," he said. "I've been used to playing week in, week out, so I've had to adjust. Obviously, some people might think I should be doing what I did at Charlton but if you don't play you can't do anything. If I get an opportunity I just try to take it. It was a great ball in from Alan [Hutton], he saw the run and I finished off.

"All season the players were there for me - we are all there for each other, to be honest. You could see how together we are the way we celebrated winning the Carling Cup.

"But the most important thing was the result. We had two bad results against Birmingham and PSV last Thursday, so it was nice to get back to winning ways."

Spurs, who were set to play the second leg of their Uefa Cup last 16 tie at PSV last night, travel to Eastlands on Sunday looking to complete the treble over Manchester City.

The Lilywhites won 2-1 in the league in December and then knocked Sven Goran Eriksson's side out of the Carling Cup two weeks later, winning 2-0.

On Wednesday, Tottenham entertain Chelsea in a rearranged league game at the Lane.

pat.mooney@hamhigh.co.uk