Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray has backed Leeds United loanee Joe Gelhardt to start scoring goals for his new side after he came close to finding his first for the Black Cats at the weekend.
The 20-year-old hit the side-netting early on against Queens Park Rangers before smashing the crossbar late on and, despite Sunderland running out as 3-0 victors, would've felt disappointed to not get on the scoresheet.
But Mowbray has claimed that asking Gelhardt to come into a completely different setup to one he's used to at Elland Road and consistently play for more minutes is a tall order.
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"He will score goals for us," Mowbray said. "He's a kid who's played ten minutes here and ten minutes there for Leeds United. He's hardly played 90 minutes, which is why I was taking him off ready for Saturday so he can give us another hour or 70 minutes.
"Yet he's strong as an ox, he works his socks off, and he has a rocket in his left foot. He'll score goals, he's a really talented boy.
"He just needs to understand how our team plays and the demands on him, because he is a young boy who has always been behind [Patrick] Bamford and all these foreign Premier League players at Leeds.
"He was getting ten minutes here and there, so for him to come into our team and be asked to play 70, 80, 90 minutes every three days is a huge ask for the kid."
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