JACK ROSS is confident Sunderland have sufficient attacking options to take Josh Maja out of the firing line if he felt it would benefit the striker’s development, after admitting the club were overly-reliant on the teenager in the opening months of the season.

Having climbed back into third position with their weekend win at Shrewsbury Town, Sunderland will attempt to maintain the pressure on the two teams above them when they travel to promotion rivals Doncaster Rovers this evening.

Maja has started all of Sunderland’s League One matches to date, but having been withdrawn after less than an hour of Saturday’s game, when he struggled in a more withdrawn attacking role, there is a chance the 19-year-old could be left out of the starting line-up tonight.

An ongoing ankle problem prevented Maja from training yesterday, and with Lynden Gooch having left the substitutes’ bench to match-winning effect at the weekend, Ross could opt to switch the two players’ roles at the Keepmoat Stadium.

Earlier in the season, the Sunderland boss admits his hand was forced when it came to selecting Maja because he did not have any alternatives. Charlie Wyke is still at least a month away from a first-team return, but with Jerome Sinclair having returned to fitness and Duncan Watmore expected to be available within the next couple of weeks, the Black Cats’ attacking ranks are starting to look much healthier.

“Earlier in the season, we had to put a huge amount of responsibility on Josh’s shoulders,” said Ross. “To his credit, he dealt with that brilliantly, but we just didn’t have any other options.

“I think Jerome being back to fitness has helped us a lot. He’s playing regularly now, and looks like he’s getting stronger with every game. We know that Chris (Maguire) can play more centrally, and we’re also hoping Duncan will not be too far away as well.

“That’s all helping us in respect of taking a bit of the load off his shoulders. I think earlier in the season, we had no choice. He stepped up for us in that respect, but we’re getting healthier in those positons, and I definitely think we’ve got options now, should we think we need them.”

Maja looked frustrated as he left the field at Shrewsbury’s Montgomery Waters Meadow, but Ross accepts dips in form are inevitable given the teenager’s age and lack of senior experience.

The Scot has told Maja not to be too hard on himself, and is working on improving his all-round game to supplement his obvious eye for goal.

“For a young man, he’s very self-aware,” said Ross. “He’s scored in a lot of games this season, but there’s been times where he’s scored and he’s still been critical of himself because he’s looking at his all-round performance.

“He’s got a real appetite to get better, and we spend a lot of time with him individually, looking at parts of his game. I don’t think I have to worry in that respect, it’s just making sure he doesn’t become too hard on himself because he’s like that by nature anyway.

“Strikers judge themselves a lot on scoring goals, so because he’s had this fantastic run, it’s just a case of making sure there’s a balance between him not getting disheartened if he’s not scoring but equally making sure his all-round contribution to the game is good enough so it balances things out.”

Holding on to Maja beyond the end of the season is one of Ross’ key priorities, but while contract talks with the striker remain ongoing, there has been no real progress in the last few weeks.

The same is true of the discussions with Gooch and George Honeyman, although Ross remains confident the situations will be resolved shortly.

All three players are due to become free agents at the end of the season, and while Sunderland’s financial position will inevitably be a factor as contracts are discussed, Ross has made no attempt to hide his determination to keep the trio at the Stadium of Light.

“Richard Hill (head of football operations) deals with that side of things, and Richard and I speak near enough every day,” he said. “My communication with Stewart (Donald) is frequent as well. There’s aspects of it I’ll take more control over in terms of that player-manager relationship, but there are times when we have a week like this when my attention is naturally elsewhere because I’m so busy.

“I can understand that, for other people, it feels as if another week has drifted by, but sometimes I don’t even notice that’s the case. Conversations regarding all of them are taking place and progressing, and hopefully we can bring positive news sooner rather than later.”

Glenn Loovens will return to full training before the end of the week, but while the centre-half should be available for Saturday’s home match with Southend, he will not be considered for tonight’s game. Similarly, while Watmore has been training with the senior squad, he will not be rushed back into first-team action after a lay-off of more than a year.

“Duncan had a good full week with us last week, this week is obviously a bit more challenging because we’re not on the training pitch very much.” said Ross. “He’ll do a bit of work with Bryan (Oviedo) and Max (Power), who are obviously still suspended, to try to keep him topped up.

“It’s maybe not a bad thing. He had a hard week last week, he’ll have a slight dip in it this week, and then we’ll go again with him next week and keep building that up.”

Sunderland (probable, 4-3-3): McLaughlin; Matthews, Flanagan, Baldwin, James; Honeyman, Cattermole, McGeouch; Gooch, Sinclair, Maguire.