Sunderland star delivers joyous 12-word message Black Cats fans will love following Oxford United win

The Stadium of Light was rocking once again on Saturday afternoon as Sunderland continued their remarkable form on their home patch.

It would be safe to suggest the Black Cats were strong favourites to boost their promotion bid with a win against an Oxford United side that were sat in the bottom half of the Championship table ahead of their visit to Wearside. Confidence amongst the home ranks was high after Regis Le Bris’ side collected maximum points from consecutive away days at Hull City and Luton Town to firmly establish themselves at the top of the table ahead of their meeting with Des Buckingham’s men.

Sunderland were also protecting an unbeaten record at the Stadium of Light and always looked likely to extend that record after Jobe Bellingham opened the scoring with a sublime header on the quarter-hour mark. The U’s provided a stubborn resistance from that point onwards but they were eventually broken by a genial finish from in-form forward Wilson Isidor as the on-loan Zenit Saint-Petersburg star crashed home a volley to ensure his side claimed a valuable win in front of their own supporters.

For Le Bris, the opening goal provided further proof the tactics implemented by the Black Cats head coach are making a major impact. Speaking after the game, the Frenchman said: “The final third can be difficult to break. When you build a new game model and culture for a team, the final layer in the game is the hardest to build. It’s not perfect, but Jobe’s goal was very interesting because we want to get into the box like that, to receive that kind of cross. The timing was perfect, and this layer of progression in our game model is now in progress.”

The goalscorer also could not hide his delight over his side’s performance and their impressive run of form during a week of results that has taken them five points clear at the top of the table. Taking to his Instagram account, Bellingham posted a photo of his goal celebration after opening the scoring with a well-taken header alongside the caption: ‘Great way to finish the week at our home 3/3. What a joy.’

Bellingham and his team-mates will hope to continue their stunning run of form when they hit the road to face Queens Park Rangers on Saturday before facing another away day at Preston North End on Wednesday week.