Now manager Steve Bruce will hope the big striker can do what he did in the previous two seasons and find the goals to fire Sunderland to safety.

Jones, the Black Cats' top scorer in the last two campaigns, grabbed the equaliser in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Wigan – only his second goal in 14 games.

But it was still his seventh goal in 17 league appearances and the manager knows that an in-form Jones could have a transformative effect on the campaign, even at this stage.

"Kenwyne had arguably his best game of the season for us." said Bruce. "It has been a while since we've seen him play like.

"He was terrific, much more like his old self and we needed that.

"It has been an unsettling time for him with the transfer talk around the January window, but he certainly looked as though he'd put that behind him and that would be great news for us and for him."

Bruce hopes that along with Jones, key midfielder Lee Cattermole will rediscover his best form once he gets more games under his belt.

He said: "One of the most difficult things for any player during a season is to be out for three months, because you're always playing catch-up.

"You can see he's off the pace, but we know that he'll get better with games.

"The one thing about him is his resilience, that's what he brings to the side, he's just suffering from being out for three months."

Cattermole's single-minded competitiveness will help Sunderland focus on their need to see the job through.

Bruce reflected: "We had opportunities in the Stoke and Wigan games but weren't able to take them.

"Now we have to try to be positive and turn it around with an away win at Portsmouth.

"It could easily happen because anyone can beat anyone else in the Premier League this season.

"Portsmouth beat us 2-1 in the cup a couple of weeks ago and I'm looking for us to respond when we go back there.

"There's 10 of us still in it at the bottom, it's so tight, but we're still in a position where a couple of decent results would turn things around very quickly."