What Sunderland desperately need to improve to get the best out of Jermain Defoe and Ross Stewart following Doncaster defeat

A crowd of 38,395 arrived at the Stadium of Light for what was described as a 'fairytale' return by the 39-year-old striker.

Yet his second debut for the club was overshadowed by a deflating 2-1 defeat against bottom of the table Doncaster Rovers, a result which hammered another big dent into the Black Cats’ automatic promotion hopes.

Obviously it’s hard to draw many conclusions from Defoe’s 18-minute cameo after he replaced Elliot Embleton and joined Ross Stewart in attack.

While the striker looked lively and made some probing runs to try and stretch the visitors’ defence, he didn't see much of the ball as Doncaster defended in numbers to close out an unexpected win.

Sunderland fans will hope Defoe can strike an effective partnership with Ross Stewart, who has scored 18 times this season but has now gone four matches without a goal.

There was one promising moment when Defoe received the ball inside the penalty area and tried to clip it across goal for his new strike partner, yet Doncaster managed to avert the danger.

The only other time Defoe managed to gain possession was when he dropped deep and drifted out to the left before attempting a pass infield. The ball was intercepted, yet, despite their frustrations, the home fans were more forgiving.

Still, one major thing Sunderland will have to improve if they are to get the best out of Defoe and Stewart is the service to them.

Against Doncaster, the Black Cats delivered several crosses into the box, yet the execution in the final third was wasteful.

According to Whoscored.com, wing-back Lynden Gooch delivered 12 crosses into the box but only three of them found a Sunderland team-mate.

Alex Pritchard was more accurate, with five of his nine attempted crosses going to another home player, while Embleton delivered seven crosses with none of them finding the intended target.

That was down to a combination of poor deliveries and players not being in the box.

Defoe, and Stewart may be an exciting prospect, yet they will need more support to get Sunderland back on track.

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