Watch Alex Pritchard's brilliant Sunderland response to the Huddersfield Town fan jeers

Pritchard’s 55th minute strike broke the deadlock on a wet and windy night at the John Smith’s Stadium to nudge Sunderland into the lead, before Amad Diallo secured the win in the dying stages. Pritchard’s opener also ended his own personal drought in front of goal, one that he admitted he was relieved to have put behind him.

Pritchard told the club website: “It has been a long time coming. I know I need to get on the score sheet more. It’s nice to have one of the big men up-front back to play off and we’ve got another one coming back so hopefully now we can push on and personally I can push on.

“It was a long time coming. You see my chance against Norwich and you still think about that and then again tonight with the chance to score a goal and we end up winning 2-0.

“It’s good for the lads to get back to winning ways and good for the fans that get behind us. We need to get back-to-back wins and move up this table - we want to be better.

“It was a needed win, a dogged win because the weather was probably not the best for both teams. It wasn’t the best performance in the world but to come off the back of a bad performance and recent results, it was just a massive win for us and a good momentum boost.”