CONNOR Wickham hopes he is coming into Great Escape form at the perfect time to help save Sunderland’s Premier League skins again.

The former England U21 striker’s first minute goal on Saturday was key to the Black Cats earning a point at Stoke City.

It also gave the Wearsiders’ leading scorer back-to-back goals for the first time this season.

And that revived memories of last season, when he scored five goals in three games - against Manchester City, Chelsea and Cardiff City - to earn the Barclays Premier League April Player of the Month award as Sunderland secured a survival so unlikely, it was dubbed the ‘Great Escape’.

“It would be nice to think it might happen again,” said the 22-year-old, smiling through the disappointment of not taking all three points at the Britannia.

“I’m feeling in good form and good shape but the reality is that we’re all going to have to be at our very best over the next few games if we’re to get to where we want to be.

“It’s a team game and I thought as a team we all pulled together against Stoke.

“It meant that we got a decent away point because it’s always difficult coming to the Britannia.

“It’s just a disappointment that we couldn’t build on the early goal because overall, especially on our second-half performance, we felt as though we could and should have got all three points.”

Wickham revealed that head coach Dick Advocaat was far from happy with Sunderland’s players at the break, despite them going into the interval on level terms.

“He wasn’t pleased with the way we were playing and he made that very clear,” said the goalscorer.

“He also switched things around a bit for the second half and I thought we were all the better for it.”

Advocaat brought on striker Danny Graham for winger Will Buckley as Sunderland switched from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 and Wickham believes the team might just have stumbled on the right formula for the remainder of the campaign.

“I thought we were really good,” he said. “ We carved out some really good chances and it was only a shame that we couldn’t take one of them.

“I like that system. I think it suits me.

“It makes us more attacking generally and it’s always nice to be attacking.

“From my own point of view, it seems to allow me the chance to get behind defences, and that’s where you can get the chance to do damage.

“Although we’re a bit disappointed to get just the one point out of the game, I think we can take a lot of heart from the second-half display.

“I know we’ve dropped into the bottom three for the moment.

“But we showed last season we can get out of the relegation zone and stay up and I’m sure we can do the same again this season.”Advocaat shared Wickham’s view of the game and the importance of a hard-fought draw away from home.

The Dutchman, who explained troubled star Adam Johnson had not travelled to Stoke because he had missed three days training, said: “I’m happy with the point because we played very poorly in the first half.

“We were lucky it was 1-1 at half-time so I could make a few changes.

“We had some problems picking up players but in the second half, after the changes, everyone knew what to do.

“From that moment on, we started playing football and it was much better.

“It was a good point and now we have to take that into the Southampton game.

“If we show the same commitment as we did against Stoke, I’Il feel very positive.”