MICK McCarthy last night hailed Stephen Elliott's "striker's instinct" after the youngster helped to fire Sunderland into their highest league position of the season.
Elliott bagged his eighth goal of the campaign in the Black Cats' 3-1 win over Wolves and, on a night of superb strikes, his 68th-minute volley provided further evidence of his eye for goal.
The 20-year-old juggled the ball on the edge of the box before firing an unstoppable half-volley past Michael Oakes as the Black Cats came from behind to maintain their unbeaten record at the Stadium of Light.
"Stephen's a natural striker," said McCarthy, who will return to his former stamping ground when Sunderland play their third game in the space of six days at Millwall on Friday. "In pre-season, he turned on one through ball and finished it so well that most of us were applauding.
"That showed us what he's like. Sometimes he's a bit too focused on doing that and he doesn't notice players running past him into better positions. But you can forgive him everything when he's got the ability to turn a game like that.
"Everything else will come in time, but you can't teach that instinctive goalscoring touch. You've either got it or you haven't - and he's got it in abundance."
Elliott wasn't the only one of McCarthy's summer signings to hit the target last night, as Liam Lawrence also weighed in with two fantastic finishes to cancel out Kenny Miller's first-half opener for Wolves
The former Mansfield midfielder scored his first Sunderland goal in Saturday's 2-0 win over Brighton and, after adding two more last night, McCarthy claimed he was always confident the 22-year-old would rediscover his shooting boots.
"He's got goals in him," said the Black Cats boss. "He scored 22 last year and that's a big part of the reason why I went to sign him - a lot were penalties, but he was the one that was fouled to get them.
"As a manager, all I can do is try to identify players who I think would help us. We did that in the close season and we're getting the reward for it now."
Sunderland have lost just once in their last ten league games and, after moving into the top three for the first time this season, McCarthy is delighted with his side's steady progress up the table.
"Three wins in a row have given us a bit of momentum," he said. "And we've come a long way in a short space of time to get into third.
"It's nice to come from behind to win a game, although I didn't think it was going to happen because I thought the first ten minutes of the second half was absolute garbage.
l Sunderland goalkeeper Michael Ingham has joined League One side Doncaster on a one-month loan.
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