Ross Stewart admits he is relieved to have ended his eight-game goal drought - and hopes his scoring touch has returned at the perfect time to help Sunderland reach the play-offs. Stewart went into Saturday's game against Cambridge United on the back of a barren run that stretched back to the end of February, when he scored twice in the Black Cats' 3-0 win at Wigan.
But he scored another brace as Sunderland beat ten-man Cambridge 5-1 at the Stadium of Light, taking him to 24 for the season and putting him back on top of the League One goalscoring charts. "I was certainly aware of it [the run without a goal] and was probably just as frustrated as anybody," said Stewart.
"As strikers you want to be scoring goals, but at the same time the team have been winning games. When you are winning games that takes over the mood of the camp and that is the most important thing - winning games.
READ MORE: Sunderland now in the box seat for the play-offs - but are likely to need a record points tally
"I think we are unbeaten in 11 now and to get back amongst the goals today, and on top of that getting another important win sets us up for Tuesday [when promotion contenders Rotherham are the visitors]."
Stewart started the ball rolling against Cambridge inside the opening quarter-of-an-hour, winning and converting a penalty when he was bundled over by Lloyd Jones - with Jones also controversially sent off for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Stewart said: "I thought it was definitely a penalty. I didn't really have a view of the challenge and was under the ball and the defender collided into me.
"I definitely thought it was a penalty and the ref has obviously made the decision to go with that. It was obviously good to step up and score that penalty early and that gave us a platform to goal and win the game."
Elliot Embleton added the second from a free-kick before the U's pulled one back, but Stewart restored the two-goal cushion before half-time. Nathan Broadhead and Danny Batth added further goals in the second half, but Stewart said Sunderland could have gone on to score even more.
"Yeah I think so," he said. "When a team goes down to ten men you always see the opportunity to score a good number of goals but you still have to be professional and go and win the game.
"It was obviously disappointing to concede the goal shortly after going two-up but I thought the response to that from the team was excellent. Second half I thought we dominated pretty much the full half and were probably unlucky not to score a couple more."
Stewart's partnership with on-loan Everton man Broadhead continues to go from strength-to-strength, with the pair having scored 36 goals between them in all competitions - a total that would surely have been higher had Broadhead not spent a lengthy spell on the sidelines through injury. "I think we compliment each other really well," said Stewart.
"I get on really well with Nath off the pitch so I think that helps us on the pitch even more with that striker link up and connection. Nath has been scoring goals and I chipped in with a couple on Saturday so I think we are really good at causing defences problems and we're scoring as well.
"We have formed a really good partnership and hopefully we can continue it in the last two games and hopefully beyond that as well."
Stewart also singled out Lynden Gooch, who provided the assists for his second goal and for Broadhead's goal.
He said: "Goochy was excellent, the quality of his delivery on a number of occasions was on the money and we got a couple of goals from it. Myself, I'm a bit frustrated with a couple that were on my head but just the fact that the deliveries are coming in as a striker is what you want.
"You want to be causing defenders trouble and trying to get on the end of things. I think we got a lot of joy from that and that showed with the number of goals we scored."
Sunderland's victory lifted them to fourth place in the table and they now have two more games to secure a play-off spot, with promotion-chasing Rotherham due on Wearside tomorrow before a final day visit to Morecambe on Saturday lunchtime. Stewart said: "We knew going into the last week of the season it was three big games and at home you want to take advantage of that.
"It was all about getting the win against Cambridge and to do it in the style we did was really pleasing. After games, I certainly have a quick glance at the league table just to keep it fresh in my head.
"Obviously it doesn't change the fact that you want to go into every game and win every game, but I think knowing maybe gives you peace of mind slightly. At the same time you can't affect what other teams do and just have to concentrate on what we can do and winning our games.
"Tomorrow is certainly going to be a tough one against Rotherham but is one that we certainly want to win with it being the last home game."
Sunderland suffered a damaging 5-1 defeat at Rotherham in October, and that will give them added motivation tomorrow.
"Yeah for the boys that played in that, that will certainly be motivation but at the same time you can't let that overtake what's there," said Stewart. "You just have to play the game and try to do well in the game.
"We were back in on Sunday to prepare for the game, come up with tactics on how we can hurt them and stop them hurting us. We will just look forward to it because this season when you are playing for something it puts an edge on these fixtures and that's what you want as a player."
For the latest Sunderland news direct to your inbox, go here to sign up to our free newsletter
