SOMETIMES, patience is rewarded. Like his Sunderland team-mate, Duncan Watmore, Charlie Wyke has adopted a softly-softly approach to his latest recovery from injury. And just like Watmore, he is hoping to reap the rewards with a successful return to action before the end of the year.

It has been a strange six months for Wyke, with the biggest move of his career coinciding with something of an injury nightmare. At the start of pre-season, he damaged his knee playing for Bradford City, with his ligament problems putting a planned £1m transfer to Sunderland in doubt.

In the end, Sunderland agreed to complete the deal despite his injury, but having been unable to take part in any pre-season training on Wearside, Wyke’s return to fitness was far from ideal.

Sure enough, when he did eventually kick off his Black Cats career in September, he managed just three league appearances before his knee problems reappeared. Cue another three-month rehabilitation period, and another thankless battle in the treatment room and gym.

This time, however, he has not attempted to rush himself back, and while he has joined in full training sessions with his team-mates for a couple of weeks now, he will not be considered for Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash with Portsmouth.

Instead, his return has been pencilled in for the Boxing Day meeting with his former club, Bradford, and having missed out on so much during the first half of the season, the 26-year-old Teessider is understandably desperate to make up for lost time in the second half of the campaign.

“It’s been a long and frustrating six months, so it’s good to finally be back out there and I’m enjoying every minute of it,” said Wyke, who started in career in Middlesbrough’s academy before joining Carlisle United in 2015.

“When I first came back, something wasn’t right and I was still getting aches and pains in my knee. I wasn’t really confident in my knee when I came back last time, and one collision made it happen again, so I’ve done an extra few weeks running and been more patient this time.”

While Wyke freely admits he was never quite right in September, his four Sunderland appearances – three in the league and one in the Checkatrade Trophy – highlighted how valuable he could be as Jack Ross looks to engineer a successful promotion push.

Unlike Sunderland’s other senior strikers, Josh Maja and Jerome Sinclair, Wyke’s main assets are his aerial ability and physical strength, and if he is able to secure an extended run in the side, Sunderland should benefit from having an extra attacking option.

He scored when he made his debut from the substitutes’ bench against Oxford United, and Ross’ reluctance to enter the transfer market to sign a new forward in January highlights his continued faith in Wyke’s goalscoring prowess.

“Scoring at the Stadium of Light was one of the best feeling I’ve had during my career,” said Wyke, who signed a three-year deal when he moved to Wearside in the summer.

“But the next week, I found myself injured again, not knowing when I’d return.

“I won’t lie, it’s tough coming in on an afternoon by yourself, and there’s been some dark days, but there’s a great bunch of lads here.

“Without the set-up we have, it could have been a lot more difficult, but I’ve fitted straight in here and I feel good.”

If Wyke was to return in the Boxing Day game with the Bantams, he could find himself playing in front of the biggest modern-day crowd in English football’s third tier.

“I think we’re trying to get 40,000 fans there, so it will be a great game to play in,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to play my part.”