Amad Diallo and Patrick Roberts were both on target as Sunderland thumped Wigan Athletic in the English Championship.
The former Rangers loanee - who had a difficult spell north of the border - is starting to live up to the reputation that earned him a mega-money move to Manchester United as he netted a stunning goal as part of a 4-1 away win. It was his sixth goal of the season in England's second tier as he continues his post Light Blues revival after becoming a clear first pick with boss Tony Mowbray and the fans at the Black Cats.
He was joined on the scoresheet by Celtic favourite Roberts who rounded off an incredible passage of play to grab his third goal of the campaign to date. Diallo's current red-hot form has had the ex-Hoops attacker featuring more often from the bench of late but he has done his chances no harm of causing his club boss a headache after back-to-back starts in recent games. Two familiar faces to Scottish football fans in the shape of ex- Hearts loan striker Ellis Simms and reported Rangers target and one-time Ross County hitman Ross Stewart also bagged a goal each in a convincing away win.
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Victory pushes the newly promoted side into fourth spot in the league standings in the race to reach the riches of the English Premier League. They are 13 points off Sheffield United in second place in the race for automatic promotion.
Speaking after the victory, Mowbray told Chronicle Live : "I was really frustrated at half-time and I told them we should be coming in winning this game three or four-one, and that they'd let them [Wigan] off the hook really," said Mowbray.
"I felt they were wary of us and they didn't over-commit too many men to the press, they didn't play with the energy that I saw them play with against Middlesbrough the other day when they had 17 shots at Boro's goal. It felt a bit as though they were on the back foot against us right from the start.
"It's a lack of experience [on Sunderland's part] - you have to smell when a team is there for the taking, be really positive, over-commit, get men in the box. I think it's all a learning experience for the team, but it was a frustration at half-time that we hadn't got the job done by then, really.
"They did carry a threat and until we got the third goal, it was always in the balance and they were always capable of scoring again."
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