RYAN Noble provided a timely reminder of what Sunderland's first-team are missing when he scored his second reserves hat-trick in the space of three matches in a 7-0 win over Scunthorpe yesterday afternoon.
Steve Bruce's persistent refusal to select Noble despite a lack of attacking alternatives is one of the key criticisms that has been levelled at the under-fire Black Cats boss in recent weeks.
Bruce's position has been in jeopardy since the weekend, when thousands of supporters directed sustained abuse in his direction as Sunderland slipped to a humiliating 2-1 home defeat to Wigan.
Owner Ellis Short had insisted he would not be panicking in his programme notes prior to the game, and the Irish-American has been as good as his word, despite discussing Bruce's future with former chairman Niall Quinn.
The pair have been keen to avoid a knee-jerk reaction to Saturday's events, and it now appears all but certain that Bruce will given an opportunity to begin to turn things around in Sunday's televised game with Wolves.
The Sunderland boss is expected to take charge of training as scheduled this morning, when he will begin to turn his attention to the weekend trip to Molineux.
His selection for the game could hardly be more important, both in terms of maximizing Sunderland's chances of claiming their third win of the season and managing the reaction of the supporters who will head to the West Midlands from Wearside.
Bruce's failure to name two centre-forwards in consecutive home games against Fulham and Wigan was interpreted as a costly lack of adventure, and while Kieran Richardson did his best in the hole behind Nicklas Bendtner last weekend, a lack of second-half opportunities was a major factor in Sunderland's defeat.
Connor Wickham remains unavailable, but Noble and Ji Dong-won are vying to partner Bendtner and the former in particular has become something of a cause celebre among the Sunderland fans.
The 19-year-old Wearsider scored a hat-trick in a reserves derby with Newcastle two games ago, and bagged another goal as Sunderland lost to Liverpool last week.
He was at it again yesterday, scoring a remarkable treble in the space of five second-half minutes as the Black Cats put Scunthorpe to the sword.
Ji, who was making his first outing at reserve-team level, bagged a brace, while there was also a double for James McClean.
Bruce is understood to harbour reservations about Noble's ability to handle the physical demands of Premier League football, but with another 4-5-1 formation unlikely to go down well with the travelling fans, it will be interesting to see whether he gives Noble a go on Sunday.
The game at Molineux pits Sunderland against a Wolves side in desperate need of a pick-me-up of their own.
Mick McCarthy's side have won just three of their 13 league matches this season and lie a place below the Black Cats in the table.
The former Sunderland manager has also experienced his own supporters turning against him this season, and is fully aware of the importance of this weekend's game.
"I don't think it could be any bigger," said McCarthy, whose side lost 3-0 at Chelsea on Saturday. "The Sunderland game was always going to be huge. If this (the defeat at Stamford Bridge) is going to make it any bigger than so be it.
"What's the point in looking beyond that? We've got Manchester United away the week afterwards. (But) let's deal with Sunderland."
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