JACK ROSS greeted Charlie Wyke’s opening goal for Sunderland by admitting that he would still have liked one more forward to have boosted the push for promotion to the Championship.

Wyke emerged from the bench at half-time on Saturday to hit the equaliser six minutes later to earn a point when Max Power’s sending off had left them with ten men.

The draw, while a positive after falling behind with a man down, saw Sunderland drop out of League One’s top two and Ross knows the players he has at his disposal are now what he must use until the window opens in January.

The Sunderland manager’s attempts to bring in an extra face in the final third to compete with Wyke and Josh Maja in attack were hampered by the frustrations of a failure to offload Papy Djilobodji and Didier Ndong before Friday’s deadline for Football League loans.

Ideally at least one of those would have gone and that would have freed up further space on the wages front, but in the end Ross has had to admit defeat for the time being in strengthening his options.

“If I was being really greedy I would have liked one more in the forward area but I knew the circumstances of what we’ve taken on here was always going to inhibit us towards the end of this window,” said Ross.

“I’d made peace with that because I knew the circumstances that we needed a resolution to a couple of players’ problems that I’ve inherited as the manager and everyone’s inherited at the club but there wasn’t.

“That obviously restricted us but I’ve said before about me making the best of what I have at whatever club I’m at. That’s how I view it every single week.

“I’ve got good players here – players I like and trust and players I think I can make better. We’re unbeaten so it’s a decent start in that sense.”

While Ndong and Djilobodji have stayed away from Wearside while their representatives have tried to engineer moves away from the Stadium of Light, two players who were also looking to leave stayed and continued to fight for places.

Lee Cattermole and Bryan Oviedo, who could still have left had there been strong enough interest before the deadline because of their sizeable Premier League salaries, both started against Oxford and will be difficult to replace after showing a desire to perform. 

Djilobodji and Ndong, however, have remained away from the club and have not been paid during their absence because Sunderland chiefs felt it was not with the club’s blessing. Ndong was due to return to the Academy of Light on Monday.

Ross said: “There's been a lot of unique things in this job to date and this is one that I don't think I'll ever encounter again.  “It's unusual to have one player in this situation never mind two or if three if you count Lamine Kone's situation, which was a little bit different but has some similarities.

“There's been a lot of challenges and not just for me – for guys like Richard Hill and Tony Coton because of the time they've had to spend on trying to find solutions and they've worked incredibly hard on that. I feel for them because I know how frustrating it is.

“Hopefully as a club we're moving in a direction where we never put ourselves in this position again. I think Stewart Donald (owner) might reflect on that this week. I'm sure he'll expand on that.”

The problem facing Ross and Donald now is that Djilobodji and Ndong are now understood to be seeking a return to the Academy of Light having seen possible moves break down. There is still a chance that both could leave this month because certain countries’ windows remain open, like Portugal where Benfica have been given on the latter.

Even if they do move on, though, Sunderland can’t bring in any players, except for free agents, until January and Ross does not see a situation where he will be willing to consider the pair for first team roles – fearing they could disrupt the atmosphere within the camp.

“I have no idea, to be honest. They may do and if they do we'll deal with them accordingly when they come in,” he said. “I haven't had any interest in them because they've never turned up and haven't been part of what I've tried to build here. I don't ever envisage them being part of that.  “However, that situation becomes more complicated if they come back in and it probably starts to extend beyond my remit as a manager but we'll deal with that as and when.

“There's still several overseas windows at the moment that allows them to ... I wouldn't say escape, that's not the right word, but to find a resolution.”

He added: “I don’t think they would disrupt what's in there now. I think what's in there now is strong enough in its numbers and the mood of the group that I wouldn't be concerned that way. It's just peculiar circumstances to get your head around.

“I'd probably have to separate myself because I've been a footballer, then a manager, and I genuinely love the game. That bothers me to an extent (that people don't want to play).

“Then I have to look at my role here and how I deal with it in terms of having those problems because they could come back. I would never consider it to be an issue. We're strong enough as a group to not be derailed.”

What is more on Ross’ mind is staying in the promotion mix. After Tuesday’s visit of Stoke’s Under-23s in the Checkatrade Trophy, Sunderland face Fleetwood at the Stadium of Light and are set to be without midfielder Power for three matches.

He was issued with a straight red for his tackle on Marcus Browne on Saturday and Sunderland are considering an appeal; particularly as Oxford boss Karl Robinson also sympathised with Power.  Ross said: “At the time I thought it was a red card but having had the benefit of seeing it again I didn’t think it was a red card but he gives the referee the decision to make.

“Equally there should have been another red card (Baptiste). We lost a wee bit of discipline which is natural but we said at half-time we had to keep control. I don’t want to distract from that opening period because it was not good enough.

“I will reflect on it we will have a look. It is easy to dive in and say we will appeal but these decisions are in the officials’ favour. Our energy levels wilted but the crowd really helped us through that.”

Sunderland defender Glenn Loovens was missing with a groin injury and will be assessed this week.