Patrick Roberts says Sunderland's forwards must start hitting the net more often to share the load with sole striker Joe Gelhardt. Roberts chipped in with his fourth of the season yesterday as he scored the only goal in the Black Cats' narrow win against Reading at the Stadium of Light - and it means that three of his goals this season have now come against the Royals, after he scored twice in the 3-0 win at the Madejski Stadium back in September.
Aside from Roberts, Jack Clarke has also hit four in the league while on-loan Manchester United man Amad has scored seven times already. And their contributions will be important in the final three months of the season with Leeds United loanee Gelhardt the club's only specialist centre-forward now that ten-goal top scorer Ross Stewart has been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign with an Achilles injury, and with Everton having recalled Ellis Simms from his loan spell on Wearside at the beginning of January.
Roberts' latest goal against Reading came five minutes from time as he exchanged passes with Trai Hume down the right and got into the penalty area, and while Royals defender Baba Rahman looked to have the situation under control Roberts then stole the ball off him and applied the finish. "I got a bit of luck but you need luck in this game," said Roberts.
