JACK ROSS can’t wait to have Duncan Watmore back to boost Sunderland’s promotion charge after another weekend when they were indebted to sought-after Josh Maja for finding the net.

Maja emerged from the bench to take his tally for the season to 11 to ensure the Black Cats secured a point against a Wycombe side which had taken the lead in the 66th minute.

The 19-year-old’s performances have attracted plenty of attention from higher league clubs and with his contract due to expire in the summer there is a fear he could leave in January.

Ross isn’t trying to focus on that situation at the moment and contract talks remain ongoing, but he also knows that he could soon have Watmore available to increase Sunderland’s attacking options.

It was a year ago yesterday when the 24-year-old last played, in the 2-2 draw with Millwall, when he suffered a second anterior cruciate knee ligament injury inside 12 months.

His double blow arrived at a time when his stock had risen considerably, with England Under-21s appearances behind him and performances to suggest that he could become a big hit in the Premier League.

Now, after his lengthy lay-off, Watmore has put the work in on the training ground and has worked with the first team again at the Academy of Light – and he is set to be given some action in the hope he can make his full comeback in the Checkatrade Trophy tie against Notts County on December 4.

Sunderland boss Ross said: “He’s scheduled to play in an Under-23s game against Middlesbrough at the beginning of next week, and that will be another significant step forward for him.

“Thereafter the Under-23s have another two games after that and the Checkatrade will then be around that time. He’ll play against Middlesbrough and that’ll be a big step forward for him. When we get that out the way we’ll look at when we integrate him.

“I had a long chat with him on Friday and the good thing is next week will be his sixth week of training with us. That gives him a really solid platform, not just physically but psychologically, to say, ‘right I’m back’. I was keen to do that no matter what happened on a Saturday.

“He’s desperate to be involved. He’s been out a long time, he’s missed playing. I think he also likes the way we play and thinks he can be an asset within that.

“I think he’s excited about that. He’s very positive and I think appreciates the patience we’ve had. When he’s back the impact he’ll make will be clear.”

Watmore’s availability will increase the competition in the final third along with Charlie Wyke, who is also recovering from a knee injury. That pair will be beneficial to the squad, with an over reliance on Maja’s goals at the moment – highlighted again against Wycombe.

Ross said: “I don’t think individually any of the front four were poor (before Maja went on), I just think there were little bits of quality (missing) that they normally have, little things that just ran away from them, or made a poor choice. That can happen.

“We also have a lot of similar forward players so on a day like this, I’ve spoken about it before, everyone starts to come towards the ball, it becomes very condensed. I can’t complain about that because they’re good players, we just don’t have that different option.

“When Duncan comes back, when Charlie comes back, we’ll have those options. We’ve managed very well with these players and there’s been plenty of days, and there’ll be plenty more, where their quality really counts.”

Maja and Jerome Sinclair have been battling for the same striker role in recent weeks and while one finishes chances better, the other has a better all-round game.

What is clear, though, is that Maja’s return in front of goal has got Championship and Premier League clubs sniffing and the fear is that he might have to be sold in the new year.

With his contract running out and him being under 24, Sunderland will be due a level of compensation if he was to leave next summer. But the reality is that they might be able to get more in January if a suitable offer comes along and there is no sign of contract progress.

Ross said: “I know he will be here with me until minimum January and I would hope longer but you can’t say that with any certainty but I hope he will be at Sunderland for the foreseeable future.

“I do know he is enjoying his football and playing regularly and contributing and you sometimes forget how young he is and to score 11 goals he deserves huge credit for that but he is level headed.

“He knows there are aspects of his game he needs to improve on and he knows he can progress here. I believe we will continue to improve him but there are not that many better clubs than this so there are a whole lot of things for him to consider.”

Maja’s equaliser, when he controlled George Honeyman’s run and cross before firing inside the bottom corner, was enough to prevent a second league defeat of the season. It was not, though, enough to see them claim top spot in League One, nor did it extend the winning run to nine matches.

Ross said: “I’ve never hidden away from expectations and I know there’ll be people who feel that this was a poor result and that we’ve not played well. I don’t think we were poor.

“I think we’ve played better, our second half performance in particular. We carry that expectation of winning every game in this league and we’ve already seen that it’s not as easy as that.

“I’ve always been keen to build ambition but temper expectations. The pleasing thing for me is that they deserved to come back and get the goal.”

Wycombe might have been struggling towards the wrong end of the table but Gareth Ainsworth’s side caused Sunderland plenty of problems. They could have scored sooner than they did and were deserving of the point.

Ross said: “They have a particular way of playing and it was a different thing for us to face here. We have to look at how we get better at breaking teams down who play that way.

“Their desire to get something from the game was evident, that was summed up by the way they blocked Max Power’s header at the end.

“Gareth will feel that what they put into the game merited them getting something from it. It’s just an example of how tough this league is.

“I don’t think it was a reminder about their attitude, it was just a reminder how tough it is to win games. A reminder for everybody, we can’t expect to just rock up here and roll teams over, regardless of the league. I’ve no complaints over the attitude.”

Watmore’s availability will increase the competition in the final third along with Charlie Wyke, who is also recovering from a knee injury.

That pair will be beneficial to the squad, with an over reliance on Maja’s goals at the moment – highlighted again against Wycombe.

Ross said: “I don’t think individually any of the front four were poor (before Maja went on), I just think there were little bits of quality (missing) that they normally have, little things that just ran away from them, or made a poor choice. That can happen.

“We also have a lot of similar forward players so on a day like this, I’ve spoken about it before, everyone starts to come towards the ball, it becomes very condensed. I can’t complain about that because they’re good players, we just don’t have that different option.

“When Duncan comes back, when Charlie comes back, we’ll have those options. We’ve managed very well with these players and there’s been plenty of days, and there’ll be plenty more, where their quality really counts.”

Maja and Jerome Sinclair have been battling for the same striker role in recent weeks and while one finishes chances better, the other has a better all-round game.

What is clear, though, is that Maja’s return in front of goal has got Championship and Premier League clubs sniffing and the fear is that he might have to be sold in the new year.

Millwall and Middlesbrough are two from the second tier who are keen, while the former Fulham youngster is also being monitored by top-flight clubs too.

With his contract running out and him being under 24, Sunderland will be due a level of compensation if he was to leave next summer. But the reality is that they might be able to get more in January if a suitable offer comes along and there is no sign of contract progress.

Ross said: “I know he will be here with me until minimum January and I would hope longer but you can’t say that with any certainty but I hope he will be at Sunderland for the foreseeable future.

“I do know he is enjoying his football and playing regularly and contributing and you sometimes forget how young he is and to score 11 goals he deserves huge credit for that but he is level headed.

“He knows there are aspects of his game he needs to improve on and he knows he can progress here. I believe we will continue to improve him but there are not that many better clubs than this so there are a whole lot of things for him to consider.”

Maja’s equaliser, when he controlled George Honeyman’s run and cross before firing inside the bottom corner, was enough to prevent a second league defeat of the season.

It was not enough to see them claim top spot in League One, nor did it extend the winning run to nine matches.

Ross said: “I’ve never hidden away from expectations and I know there’ll be people who feel that this was a poor result and that we’ve not played well. I don’t think we were poor.

“I think we’ve played better, our second half performance in particular. We carry that expectation of winning every game in this league and we’ve already seen that it’s not as easy as that.

“I’ve always been keen to build ambition but temper expectations. The pleasing thing for me is that they deserved to come back and get the goal.”

Wycombe might have been struggling towards the wrong end of the table but Gareth Ainsworth’s side caused Sunderland plenty of problems. They could have scored sooner than they did and were deserving of the point.

Ross said: “They have a particular way of playing and it was a different thing for us to face here. We have to look at how we get better at breaking teams down who play that way.

“Their desire to get something from the game was evident, that was summed up by the way they blocked Max Power’s header at the end.

“Gareth will feel that what they put into the game merited them getting something from it. It’s just an example of how tough this league is.

“I don’t think it was a reminder about their attitude, it was just a reminder how tough it is to win games. A reminder for everybody, we can’t expect to just rock up here and roll teams over, regardless of the league. I’ve no complaints over the attitude.”