Sunderland are currently experiencing somewhat of an injury crisis in their forward line as Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms are both out of action, and it now looks like it's having an effect on the side's results.

The Black Cats have picked up consecutive draws in the Championship which won't be good enough over the season ahead in a very tight and competitive league to secure a spot in the playoffs, now dropping into seventh in the league table after their draw with Preston North End.

Tony Mowbray will be keen to find a solution and fast as Sunderland take on Blackpool at the Stadium of Light tomorrow night, and securing all three points from the game is essential to make sure they don't create a bigger gap between themselves and the promotion positions.

The newly-appointed manager confirmed that Stewart will be out for around "six to eight weeks" at the beginning of September and the latest update on Simms is that Everton may want to scan their player's toe injury so will need to wait for a definite time frame.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Kristjaan Speakman could be regretting the decision not to reunite with Everton centre-forward Nathan Broadhead who was so integral to the club's promotion success from League One last season.

Indeed, with a failed Elliot Embleton experiment at the weekend, the Mackems may well have not only been longing for Simms and Stewart, but also their former loanee.

The talented striker who was dubbed "fantastic" by former Sunderland manager Lee Johnson, scored 13 goals for the North-East club last season and five of those came at the most crucial part of the campaign in the last seven games during their competitive fight for a spot in the playoffs.

Broadhead is now at Wigan Athletic, scoring one goal in his first eight appearances for his new club, but there is no doubt that with his experience in the team and winning mentality, Mowbray could've got the best out of him.

He already knows the surroundings at the Stadium of Light and under a manager who extracted 22 goals from a certain Ben Brereton Diaz last term, the future would have bode well for Broadhead.

With that being said, nobody could have predicted that Simms and Stewart would both be out at the same time but it would have taken a lot of pressure off their return if they had a player like Broadhead who already has a connection with the players around him and a clear record for performing in the team.