JACK ROSS is hoping Sunderland win the battle of the strikers when Portsmouth arrive on Wearside this afternoon, knowing one of his leading targets this year will be looking to show why he was such a wanted man.

John Marquis moved to Fratton Park in a deal believed to be worth well in excess of £1m this summer, having had the Black Cats on his tail since Josh Maja left for Bordeaux in January.

Sunderland’s drop in spending this summer, having failed to return to the Championship, meant having to be more frugal in the transfer market and in the end their attacking options were strengthened by the loan signing of Reading’s Marc McNulty.

Last January, when Doncaster refused to sell Marquis while they were pushing for promotion themselves, Ross ended up signing Will Grigg from Wigan in a deal worth £4m and he has struggled to make the sort of impact he would have liked ever since.

Grigg was given another chance to shine at Accrington on Tuesday night in the Carabao Cup but he failed to find the net and was replaced with 20 minutes to go by Aiden McGeady – and that is likely to lead to another change against Portsmouth.

Ross knows Grigg has only scored four times in his 20 league appearances so far since joining Sunderland, and that is not the sort of return expected from the Northern Ireland international who is renowned for scoring goals at third tier level.

“Players generally care more than what people believe,” said Ross. “From a distance people don’t understand how hard players work and how much they care and Will cares. You don’t become a professional footballer without that dedication, without having that drive for success.

“We have choices as a staff as to how to help Will, we do that and then he has to try to get out of it. He has to keep looking back at what he has done previously and take enormous belief from that and he will get back to his best. I can’t shy away from the fact that Will, and he knows as we speak, in terms of goal return, he hasn’t delivered like he would like to have done.

Ross continued: "Will would admit that as well. You have two choices, wallow in self-pity and think it’s a shame or try to rectify it? How can he affect it? Will can affect his own behaviour and we will continue to help him until we get that goal return from him.”

Marquis is yet to find the net for Portsmouth but Ross knows how important he will be to the cause on the south coast – and he expects him to pose a threat today having scored so frequently for Rovers.

“John is a player last January we had enquired about at that point,” said Ross. “It didn’t go beyond that. Things have changed a bit for us since then, we have not really had any more discussions about him because of that.  “Kenny Jackett will feel he has strengthened that area of the pitch. He is obviously a good player. Losing Matt Clarke, Jamal Lowe, who were terrific last year, Matt was fantastic for them.

“But I look at John, Ellis Harrison from Ipswich, Marcus Harness who came in from Burton, they will feel like they lost good players but then brought in good players as well so they will be as strong as last season at least.”

Last season Sunderland battled away with Portsmouth all season at the top end of League One. Having slipped up before Christmas at Fratton Park, the Black Cats then lost a Checkatrade Trophy final at Wembley to them.

There was then a draw towards the end of the season at the Stadium of Light before Sunderland edged them over two legs in the play-off semi-final. This might be a meeting earlier in the campaign, but Ross expects a tough challenge.

He said: “Every game is a must win because of the expectations around this club. I have said that on a lot of occasions. Hangover of last season? There is nothing you can do to affect anything in the past, it won’t help anyone achieve what we want.  “We want to win on Saturday because we know we have to win regularly, particularly at home. Every game should have the same significance.  “Both squads have changes. Portsmouth have recruited and lost players. There is a continuation about what the teams will want to do, there will be few surprises given how late it was we played them last season.  “There was an edge, they were enjoyable games, and I am looking forward to that again. They are a team who will be up in that top part of the table. The players have tended to respond well to games like that. We will look to replicate that.”