Regis Le Bris and John Mousinho both agrees Wilson Isidor is one of the best strikers in the Sky Bet Championship after the Sunderland loanee scored the winner in the 1-0 win over 10-man Portsmouth.
The 24-year-old, who is on a season-long loan from Zenit St Petersburg, has bounced back from a spell of seven games without a goal to score three in his last four.
His early goal against Portsmouth was enough to secure a second successive home win for the Black Cats, who moved to within three points of leaders Leeds.
“Isidor is probably one of the best centre-forwards at this level and he caught us out early,” said Portsmouth boss Mousinho, who saw his captain Marlon Pack sent off midway through the second half for pulling back the goalscorer.
Agreeing with the visiting boss, Sunderland head coach Le Bris said: “Probably yes and it’s good because I don’t think it was expected he’d be at this level.
“He’s very talented, but he’s also shown he’s a hard worker and a great team-mate.
“We spoke often about the confidence of our strikers. It’s still like that. If you can keep a high level, it’s better.
“The most important thing is the way they behave as a team-mate and if you are connected, even if you struggle for a short period, you know you are working for the team and your team-mates will know that and will help you.”
Sunderland had 24 shots on goal, but could not add to Isidor’s early breakthrough as they made hard work of the win.
Le Bris addedd: “It was the fifth game in 15 days with a small squad. We can’t expect a great level of play during the whole game, it’s impossible. We showed we wanted to win and were connected.
“It’s good for us because even if we didn’t score the second goal we showed our consistency. It’s good for a young team because they could have lost their emotional control, but we didn’t.”
Despite defeat, Portsmouth boss Mousinho was pleased with his side’s display, especially on the back of their 3-0 defeat at Bristol City in their last away game.
He said: “There’s definitely an air of positivity in the changing room. We’ve taken one of the top sides in the league with excellent players right to the wire, with 10 men as well.
“Even before the last 10 minutes, I thought we were decent value. Overall, I’m really pleased.
“They caught us early, but once we settled back into the game, I was happy with what we did and we had some half chances.
“The work rate, tenacity and desire that we didn’t see at Ashton Gate was all there today.”
