Tony Mowbray admits it’s unlikely Sunderland will sign a striker in the January transfer window after another frustrating afternoon in front of goal at Millwall.

Despite dominating possession at The Den, the Black Cats had only had Jack Clarke’s second-half penalty to show for their efforts as they left south London with a point after going behind to Kevin Nisbet’s goal on the stroke of half-time.

It’s now three games without a win for Mowbray’s side, who face high-flying West Brom and Leeds at the Stadium of Light in their next two fixtures, and the 60-year-old admits he’s frustrated by his side’s lack of cutting edge.

Clarke’s spot-kick was his 10th goal of the campaign and the winger was again outstanding, winning the penalty and also setting up two good chances that were spurned by Bradley Dack and Dan Ballard.

But in attack Mason Burstow, preferred to Eliezer Mayenda and Luis Hemir Semedo, with Nazariy Rusyn injured, made little impact and none of Sunderland’s strikers have found the net this season.

The team improved dramatically when Alex Pritchard, Patrick Roberts and Dack were introduced in the second half, but Mowbray said it is down to him to try and improve the strikers he has at his disposal.

“We can control a game but we don't look like scoring a goal,” Mowbray said.

“We dominated long spells without looking like we'd score. We controlled it without a cutting edge.

“Not enough shots, not enough end product.

 "We don't look like scoring. I think it's because we have inexperienced strikers who aren't really ready at this moment to play for our team, but they have to play and we are playing them.

“We are trying to develop them and get them up to speed to be able to be a striker in the Championship.”

The transfer window opens in less than a month and Mowbray said discussions are yet to take place about potential targets but admitted a striker is unlikely to be on the agenda.

“I don’t know if we will be signing a striker,” he said.

"I do get asked of course, and sit in recruitment meetings but we haven’t had one yet about January.

“But I think the club will say to me ‘we have Mayenda, Rusyn, Hemir and Burstow on loan from Chelsea, so you have four strikers, what do you want another striker for’?

“That’s probably how I think it will go. But that is OK, that is fine, we will just have to keep working with them.

“We show them their clips after every game to see what they could have done better.

“They are here to learn and grow and hopefully they will become major players.

“I am not sure they are ready to quite help us win games like at Millwall with all the possession we have to win 3-0. We haven’t got that striker at this moment.”

Clarke has blossomed under Mowbray and looks every inch of the player Tottenham signed from Leeds for £10 million as a teenager in 2019.

The 23-year-old failed to make an impact in north London and had struggled in loan spells at QPR and Stoke before rejuvenating his career at the Stadium of Light.

“It what he does every game,“ Mowbray said of Clarke’s display at The Den.

“He has 10 goals this season and I know there are three or four penalties, but he has grown so much.

“He’d lost a bit of confidence, had some loans that didn’t go so well and ended up at Sunderland.

“But I would never try to take any credit other than to love him and tell him how great he is.

“He is amazing and I think people will look at him in the transfer window because when he is confident and bright, I can see why he got a £10 million move to Tottenham.

“But I know for a fact the club wouldn’t even consider an offer that is less than double that figure now.”