SOMETIMES, in football, the best things come to those who wait.

When Marcus Stewart scored a hat-trick in September's 4-0 win at Gillingham, the striker looked like spearheading Sunderland's push towards the Premiership.

But, when his next 15 appearances failed to bring any reward, there were plenty amongst the Stadium of Light faithful ready to write the 32-year-old off as an expensive throw-back to the club's profligate past.

Stewart, after all, had failed to keep the Black Cats in the top-flight after making a much-trumpeted move from Ipswich in August 2002. So was he really the right man to lead the attempts to recover Sunderland's Premiership status some two seasons later?

Plenty thought he wasn't and the criticism thrown in his direction during December's 2-0 home defeat to West Ham underlined the lack of faith in the endurance of his abilities.

At times, it seemed like Black Cats boss Mick McCarthy was the only person willing to persist with his under-fire striker.

But, after standing by his man for so long, McCarthy's patience was rewarded on Saturday when Stewart grabbed his second treble of the season in Sunderland's emphatic 4-2 win over Watford.

"Mick was brilliant with me," said Stewart, who played most of Saturday's game without matching footwear after he was forced to replace his left boot when it split open following a particularly hefty challenge.

"There was a stage earlier in the season when I wasn't scoring and I didn't score for 15 games.

"But he carried on playing me. Every Friday, I was expecting to be called into the office and dropped, but that didn't happen.

"It did eventually but, when it happened, I've got to be honest and admit that it was long overdue.

"The manager's got to change things sometimes. There were people snapping at my heels and, when I was eventually dropped, they deserved their place in the team.

"It happened and I was out for three games. I had no qualms about that - it was fair enough - but I've come back and scored goals. The challenge now is to do that for the rest of the season."

Saturday's goals made it five in the last seven league games for the Bristol-born striker but, more importantly, the three points kept Sunderland level with second-placed Wigan with 14 games of the season to go.

After almost leaving the Stadium of Light last summer, Stewart seems certain to bid his farewells when his current contract expires in May.

And, as one of the few remaining players to have suffered the heartbreak of relegation, there is only one achievement that would represent redemption for everything that has gone before.

Stewart might have been unable to score the goals that would have kept Sunderland in the Premiership but, after a wait of two-and-a-half-years, it would be particularly fitting if his efforts were able to fire Sunderland back to football's promised land.

"I don't know what's going on with my contract at the end of the season," admitted Stewart. "But, if I ever leave this club, I want to be part of something positive.

"I suppose I was in a way last year with us getting to the semi-final of the FA Cup and reaching the play-offs, but that wasn't the finished article.

"We've got to win something or achieve something this season - that obviously means getting promotion one way or another. If I help Sunderland do that, I'll be happy."

Many more performances like Saturday's would go a long way towards achieving that aim as a disappointing Watford side were utterly unable to deal with the combination of Stewart's strength and intelligence and Stephen Elliott's boundless energy.

The pair have nurtured a striking unit of real potency, with Stewart relishing the lead striker role with his back to goal and Elliott scampering onto all of his knock-downs and lay-offs.

The Republic of Ireland international has been a revelation since moving from Manchester City last summer but there is little doubt that, without Stewart's guiding hand, his development would have been rather less dramatic.

Elliott's confidence is clear to see - one pirouette that left full-back Lloyd Doyley in a heap was especially impudent - but his boyish bravado would have to be kept in check were Stewart not making sure that the nuts and bolts of a striker's art were already being attended to.

"Stephen's been a great find," beamed Stewart, with all of the affection of a father describing his favourite son. "In fact, I would say that he's been the biggest find of the season in this league.

"I'm sure the manager was thinking about edging him in slowly when he first bought him. But he's been at the forefront of this side all season. He's the top goalscorer at the club, and deservedly so.

"I didn't know anything about him when he signed. I didn't know him at all, but I think everyone will know all about him now."

Watford will have known all about the pair of them, but that still didn't stop Ray Lewington's side playing a major part in their own downfall.

Elliott sprang a sloppy offside trap when he raced onto Carl Robinson's header in the 17th minute and, when he crossed from the right flank, Stewart was granted enough room from which to direct a precise back-post header beyond Paul Jones.

The striker grabbed his second from the spot 16 minutes later, calmly converting after James Chambers had halted George McCartney's progress as the full-back raced onto a perfectly-weighted pass from Julio Arca.

Arca had a goal of his own ruled out for offside as Robinson and Jeff Whitley completely over-ran a Watford midfield devoid of balance or bite, but worse was to come for the visitors six minutes after the break.

Goalkeeper Jones, formerly of Southampton and Liverpool, completely misjudged a hopeful punt forward from McCartney and, when the ball looped over his head as raced to the edge of his box, Stewart beat defender Jay DeMerit to prod it into the empty net.

Jones made partial amends for his error midway through the second half, acrobatically tipping Elliott's drive over the crossbar after the youngster seemed certain to score from eight yards.

But, from the resultant corner, centre-half Steve Caldwell headed back across the face of goal and substitute Chris Brown tapped in his fifth of the season from close range.

That should have been that but, with the points in the bag, Sunderland's defenders switched off to allow Watford to grab two barely-deserved consolation goals in the last 14 minutes.

Bruce Dyer fired home on the turn after a knock-down from Danny Webber, and the substitute added a second in stoppage time as he held off Gary Breen to convert Gavin Mahon's cross from the right.

Result: Sunderland 4 Watford 2.

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