TONY MOWBRAY is confident January recruit Joe Gelhardt has the firepower to keep Sunderland right in the thick of the Championship play-off conversation.

The Black Cats were prevented from climbing up to fourth on Saturday when Bristol City converted a stoppage-time penalty to earn a point through Nahki Wells.

The experienced striker made no mistake from the spot to cancel out Jack Clarke’s brilliant 59th-minute opener.

A draw was a fair result after 90 minutes when both teams struggled to create loads of chances, and the goalkeepers made a couple of good saves each.

Gelhardt, who joined Sunderland on loan from Leeds just days before the January deadline, was unable to pose too much of a threat to Alex O’Leary’s goal.

The 20-year-old’s best chance was when he turned on to his left foot in the first half and fired off target when he might have been better off taking a shot on first time.

Gelhardt has not scored in any of his four starts since joining Sunderland.

But Mowbray, who is without injured leading scorer Ross Stewart, said: “When you have a young player like Joe, he has to learn every minute on the pitch is helping the team to function.

“He hasn’t played much football in the Premier League, ten or 15 minutes here and there. I am now asking him to lead the line.

“There will be opportunities and goals for him. At the minute the wide players are chipping in with goals and Jack got the two goals in midweek at QPR too. But Joe is a wonderful player, tight on the ball, with strong hips and body.

“He has to integrate. It is difficult when the games are every three days. You are not doing much organisational shape. We have brought him in and stuck him up front. It is not a work in progress because we don’t have time to do work. We will try to organise a team Monday to play Tuesday at Rotherham.

The Northern Echo: Sunderland head coach Tony MowbraySunderland head coach Tony Mowbray (Image: Ian Horrocks)

“It has been the same for the last few weeks. It has been difficult to integrate him in, but he gets in the areas. He has a wonderful left foot, we see it every day in training, and he just needs to get the first one.”

Sunderland head to Rotherham tomorrow sitting fifth and Mowbray was certainly in no mood to complain after collecting two wins and a draw from last week.

He said: “The second didn’t come and ultimately we suffered a sucker punch at the end. It was entertaining but it would have been more entertaining if it had stayed 1-0! It was another challenge for this team and we dealt with it pretty well."