But Black Cats team-mate Nyron Nosworthy believes he can be a match-winner if he maintains the impressive form which has reaped its rewards with four goals in his last six outings.

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Jones came to the rescue in the dying minutes after out-of-sorts Sunderland fell behind to Simon Davies's clever free-kick.

Jones was undoubtedly Sunderland's top performer – despite only passing a fitness test on the morning of the match, having sustained a knock in training earlier in the week.

Sunderland could not have done without the powerful Jones, the brightest star in a disappointing performance, but will be wary of interest from top Premier clubs, with Liverpool reportedly fancying the Trinidad and Tobago international.

Nosworthy hopes that Sunderland's other strikers – and midfielders – can play a bigger supporting role to £6million summer signing Jones, but he admits that the former Southampton star is a real handful, even to experienced top-flight defenders.

Nosworthy said: "He would be a nightmare to play against – he jumps and he hangs for so long, and I think he can win a lot of games for us.

"We have to try to work together now to take the pressure off him and start scoring from different areas of the pitch.

"The manager and the players are not trying to put any sort of pressure on him to score goals – he does that himself.

"Because he's such a presence up front and so good in the air, it becomes almost irresistible not to drift it in there for him or put in a good ball and see what happens. At the moment, he's our main strength going forward."

Nosworthy knows that Jones will not get carried away with his run of success, adding: "He's very relaxed.

"Like myself he hails from the Caribbean so he's more than relaxed from time to time.

"He's very calm and just gets on with everybody, but on the pitch he makes his physical presence count. The goals he's scored and success he's had doesn't get to him – he just takes it in his stride."