Everton loanee Nathan Broadhead discusses Sunderland's support, Jermain Defoe’s exit and Ross Stewart partnership

The 23-year-old striker was sidelined for over two months from December last year, and suffered a further setback after returning for the goalless draw at Charlton in March.

After three games out of the squad, Broadhead came off the bench to score a crucial stoppage-time winner in Sunderland’s 1-0 win over Gillingham – a result which moved Alex Neil’s side up to sixth in the League One table.

“The thing with a hamstring is you have to be patient and I’m not really a patient guy with injuries,” said Broadhead when asked about his setbacks.

“I came back maybe a bit too early, I don’t know, but I felt good in my head at the time but my body never agreed with it.

“You learn from these mistakes and hopefully from now on it can be a good run with me in the team and scoring goals.”

When Broadhead suffered the initial injury during Sunderland’s Carabao Cup game at Arsenal, it was thought his loan spell could be cut short.

But while the striker was sidelined for a significant period of time, the damage wasn’t as bad as first feared.

Broadhead went back to Everton to undergo his rehab but always had aspirations of returning to Sunderland in the Black Cats’ fight for promotion.

“That is what I was thinking of being injured coming back here,” he explained

“The club (Sunderland) has believed in me and kept me on so I need to pay the price.

“They were seeing how I was getting on and obviously the physios at Everton were letting them know so it was good communication between the clubs.”

While Broadhead has been sidelined there have been a lot has changed at Sunderland, with Neil replacing Lee Johnson as the club’s head coach.

The Black Cats have kept five clean sheets in their last six games and are also making a habit of scoring late goals.

“I think the difference is that we are more solid as a team and we need to keep on doing that,” added Broadhead.

“We have the players to score a goal in the final minute. We have the players to score goals.”

Broadhead is disappointed he didn’t get more time to work and learn from Jermain Defoe, who announced his retirement from football last month.

"I had a couple of sessions with him, like three or four sessions,” said Broadhead when asked about the former England striker. “I didn’t really work with him.

“I would have liked to work with him and learn from him.”

Still, Broadhead is relishing the pressure which will fall on himself and Sunderland’s top scorer Ross Stewart, who are the only senior strikers left at the club.

“We are good pals off the pitch and we give each other confidence on it,” Broadhead replied when asked about Stewart. “We have shown we work well together.”

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