TONY Mowbray has a decision to make up-front after his strikers fired another blank in the defeat at Plymouth - with Eliezer Mayenda now potentially in line to make his first Sunderland start when Huddersfield Town visit the Stadium of Light on Wednesday.

Nazariy Rusyn started his fourth successive game up-top on Saturday but was hooked at half-time and replaced by Mayenda, who has blown Mowbray away in training.

Mayenda couldn't spark a Sunderland comeback against Argyle, who picked up all three points thanks to a first half double from Morgan Whittaker and Finn Azaz. But with Mowbray still searching for the best formula in attack, Sunderland's head coach could now turn to the 18-year-old.

Rusyn, Mayenda, Hemir and Mason Burstow, who was missing at Plymouth through injury, are all without a goal between them this season and it was the lack of a cutting edge that cost Sunderland on Saturday.

Mowbray's side had 24 shots on goal and 14 corners, whereas the hosts scored from their only two efforts on target.

"We have to keep working on it," said Mowbray.

"It's okay me saying we have young strikers, they have to keep working and find the confidence.

"We started with Rusyn who had some good chances early on, Mayenda comes on, he's got wonderful attributes but he's a young boy. We have to decide whether we play him off the right side, coming in off his left foot but he's competing with Patrick Roberts.

"It's a bit frustrating. We were the dominant team but we have to score goals. Goals change games. I talked to them at half-time about being 2-0 up at home to Burnley last season when we lost 4-2. We were more than capable of doing that to Plymouth but it didn't happen.

"We missed the opportunities. If you keep missing, it gives the opposition confidence. You have to score, that's the harsh reality of football."

Explaining his decision to replace Rusyn with Mayenda at half-time, Mowbray said:  "I took him off because he'd missed a couple of opportunities, he'd ran offside a couple of times and Mayenda has been so good in training, so powerful and sharp.

"We just wanted to give him an opportunity down the middle. All of our strikers need to play, we're not going to know if they can score goals unless they get time on the pitch. That's why we made that change."

Plymouth found it hard to get out of their own half in the opening 20 minutes on Saturday but the game was turned on its head by Whittaker's superb strike.

Luke Cundle, who was pivotal in both goals, sent the ball down the right channel for attacking midfielder Whittaker to run at the Sunderland defence. The summer buy from Swansea cut inside and let fly with a thumping left-foot shot from outside the box that flew into the opposite top corner, giving Anthony Patterson – at full stretch in the Sunderland goal – little chance.

The Sunderland number one was again left clutching thin air when Argyle surged further ahead on another counter attack in the 40th minute.

Again central midfield ace Cundle was instrumental, this time sending Azaz down the left flank with a measured pass, enabling the attacking midfielder to cut into the penalty area and place a shot out of the reach of the diving Patterson.

Sunderland twice hit the woodwork and pushed throughout the second half but couldn't find a way back into the game, with their three-game unbeaten stretch coming to an end.

Sunderland will now look to dust themselves down and bid to get back to winning ways against struggling Huddersfield on Wednesday.

Mowbray will assess Burstow over the next 24 hours, with Chris Rigg also due back at the training ground today after England's Under-17s were knocked out of the World Cup last week.

Sunderland's coaching team will also closely monitor Pierre Ekwah, who has started the last six games but isn't quite at his best.

Mowbray said: "Pierre, he'd been injured, he has to get upto speed, he doesn't seem upto speed for me, he's a yard off it. But I don't see a major problem."