Joe Gelhardt just needs a goal to get back in the scoring groove according to Tony Mowbray - but Sunderland's packed schedule is working against the on-loan Leeds United striker. Gelhardt joined the Black Cats towards the end of the January transfer window but has yet to open his account for the club, despite getting on the end of a number of chances in his four outings so far.
Mowbray is still trying to integrate Gelhardt into his squad but, with games coming thick and fast recently, the 20-year-old has only had one full clear week of training with his new teammates. Since then, Sunderland have played on average every three days - meaning much of their time is taken up with recovery and travelling - and there is no let-up in their schedule just yet with another midweek game at Rotherham United coming up on Tuesday before a visit to Coventry City on Saturday.
"I see it in training every day, he is a wonderful player - really tight with the ball, really strong hips and strong body, he can roll people," said Mowbray, following yesterday's 1-1 draw at home to Bristol City yesterday. "He just has to integrate.
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"It's difficult for him to get any real training because the games have been every three days so you're recovering, travelling, playing, recovering, travelling, playing. You're not really doing much organisational shape on your team.
"We've basically just brought him in and stuck him up front, it's not a work in progress because we haven't got time to do work! That'll be the same today because we'll be in to recover and we'll see who's available and then tomorrow we'll try to organise a team to play on Tuesday at Rotherham.
"And after that, it will be the same again preparing to go to Coventry. It has been the same for the last three weeks or so.
"It's been difficult to integrate him because we haven't been able to do the work we would have probably liked to. But he gets into the right areas and he has a wonderful left foot. He just needs to get the first one [goal] and I'm sure they will start flowing for him."
While Gelhardt has yet to score, he has played an important role for the team and it was his pass which set Jack Clarke away for the goal which gave Sunderland the lead on the hour against Bristol City. That goal looked set to seal a third win in the space of a week for the Black Cats, only for an injury-time penalty - conceded by Trai Hume for a foul on Jay Dasilva and converted by Nakhi Wells - to earn the Robins a point.
While that late goal was a major disappointment for Mowbray, he was pleased to see Clarke on the scoresheet again after he scored twice in the 3-0 win at QPR in midweek. He said: "When you've got a young player of 20 like Joffy [Gelhardt], he has to learn and every minute on the pitch is helping him learn how the team functions and how the team plays.
"He hasn't played very much football and he has been thrown in and out in the Premier League [at Leeds], 15 minutes here and 20 minutes there, and now we are asking him to try and lead the line in a really tough division. There will be lots of chances and opportunities for him along the way, but at the moment the wide players are chipping in with goals and it was a great goal from Jack to add to his two during the week."
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