Sunderland striker Darren Bent has revealed a dressing-room visit by owner Ellis Short helped galvanise the Black Cats for Tuesday's demolition of Bolton.

Bent plundered his first hat-trick for the club as they ran out 4-0 winners to end their 14-game wait for a Barclays Premier League victory and lift themselves six points clear of the relegation zone.

It was achieved with Short watching from the stands, after he had bumped into manager Steve Bruce on the pitch beforehand and then visited the players to pass on his best wishes ahead of what might have otherwise been a crisis meeting.

Bent said: "He came into the changing room before the game and said, 'Hi, I'm Ellis Short', and I think a few of the players were cringing and thinking, 'Crikey, we had better do something tonight'.

"But everyone went out there and produced really, really well from back to front. We played as a team, played like we were playing at the start of the season and we got our rewards.

"A lot of people had said, 'Imagine if you lose or if you don't get the right result', but to be fair, none of the players in the changing room were thinking negatively.

"We were just thinking about going forward and getting the job done, and luckily enough, we did."

Short, Bruce and chairman Niall Quinn sat down on Wednesday to discuss the way forward knowing there is still work to be done this season with 10 games remaining, but more confident that the desperate late scrap for survival of the last two campaigns will be avoided this time around.

It should be as long as Bent continues to find the back of the net with such regularity.

He took his tally for the season to 19 with a well-executed treble which secured a first league win since November 21.

Fraizer Campbell got the home side off to the perfect start, scoring his first league goal for Sunderland inside the first minute, but it was the former Tottenham man who took over after the break.

His 64th-minute finish from Lee Cattermole's pass killed off Bolton's fightback and when Sam Ricketts was set off for bundling Bent to the ground 10 minutes later, the defender's second cautionable offence, he converted from the penalty spot.

The third arrived two minutes from time with Campbell the provider, but the margin of victory for a team which had scored just two goals in its previous six matches could have been even greater.

Sections of the home crowd urged England boss Fabio Capello not to overlook the £10million man, a theme once again taken up by Bruce in his post-match press conference.

However, while Bent is keeping his fingers crossed that he makes the plane for South Africa, he knows the matter is largely out of his hands.

He said: "It's going to be tough, but at the same time, I think there is only Wayne Rooney who has scored more goals than me now in the England squad.

"If I get the selection, I will be delighted; if not, then I will just have to move on."

Sunderland leapfrogged Bolton as a result of last night's win, although they head a group of four teams who remain within striking distance of the current bottom four.

Bolton, a point and a place worse off having played one game more, entertain 15th-placed Wigan on Saturday knowing they too can afford no slip-ups.

Manager Owen Coyle said: "It is very tight. These margins really are minimal.

"It's been a big ask - I think we have played Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Wednesday every week since coming in. The week that we didn't, we had 12 away on international duty.

"But the boys have got on with it. They do it with a smile on their face and we will be back in ready to work hard and look to go and win a massive game on Saturday at home to Wigan."