Sunderland boss Alex Neil explains the key change that helped get Ross Stewart back to his best

But the head coach also believed that a key tactical change helped get the 25-year-old back to his best on Saturday afternoon.

Stewart's early penalty against Cambridge United brought a run of eight games without a goal to an end before he added a second before half time with a fine strike from inside the box.

That took him to 24 for the campaign and back to the top of the League One table, a day before he was named in the division's official team of the season.

Noticeable, too, was that Stewart went close with a number of headers as Sunderland's crossing from the wide areas increased significantly. Between them, Lynden Gooch and Patrick Roberts registered three assists.

Neil feels that his need to play inverted wing backs due to some of his injury issues had been affecting Stewart's goalscoring output, but said that the striker's contribution was nevertheless significant.

“I didn’t even know how long it had been [since he last scored," Neil said.

"Eight games? Was it as long as that? I didn’t know. It didn’t even enter my mind. Ross is our number nine.

"He leads the line, and he’s a good striker. How many goals has he scored now? 24? That’s a great return isn’t it? Even if he goes through a little spell when he doesn’t score, then provided he’s contributing to the team and is doing everything that’s asked of him, that’s great.

"See in that spell, I’m conscious of the fact we’ve not played with natural footers on the sides, so their deliveries for Ross probably haven’t really helped him because that’s not the type of striker he is. I’m aware of that, but we’ve still won games.

"What I say to Ross is, ‘You need to do your job for the team, and when we can do that for you, then great’. We just need to adapt, and he’s adapted great."

Stewart's dip in goalscoring output had also been offset by Nathan Broadhead's return; the Everton loanee scoring four in six since rekindling his partnership with the Scot.