As soon as an ounce of positivity gets installed at Sunderland, it suddenly gets ripped away from them.

A 3-0 victory over Wimbledon courtesy of a Charlie Wyke hat-trick brought smiles to supporters. However, a dismal defensive display against Plymouth that inspired a 2-1 defeat just about summed up the root of their problems.

They haven’t won at home under Lee Johnson yet but thankfully, they could correct that in the transfer market.

What’s the word?

Sunderland have already welcomed Carl Winchester to the club from Forest Green Rovers but now they are targeting another acquisition from the EFL.

According to Football League World, the Mackems are interested in signing Preston forward Jayden Stockley.

They report that Alex Neil is willing to let the player leave this month and he could join either Sunderland or Hull according to FLW’s recruitment sources.

At this stage, it’s unclear as to whether the £5k-per-week earner is available on a loan deal or permanently.

The next Grigg

Stockley has had an eye-catching career that is difficult to ignore. He began his playing days at Bournemouth but had a number of loan spells in non-league football and throughout the EFL.

He has scored a bucket load of goals in League Two (56 in 143) – and has since risen up the leagues to earn Championship status with Preston.

That being said, his record above the fourth tier of English football leaves plenty to be desired.

He has netted just eight times in 65 Championship outings, while his record in League One is alarmingly bad. Stockley has only beaten the goalkeeper on one occasion at this level in 22 outings.

Considering League One sides are interested in acquiring his services this doesn’t particularly bode very well, that's despite his genius hold-up play. Teammate Sean Maguire once said: "The guy can hold up a house. He’s strong and his hold-up play is one of the best I’ve played with."

Sunderland have made a host of errors when it comes to signing strikers in recent years. Danny Graham has scored once since re-signing last summer while Will Grigg has been nothing short of a disaster.

After being acquired for a fee of £4m, he has scored only eight goals in nearly two years of football, failing to take the Black Cats to a level where they are in a place to be promoted.

Unfortunately, judging by Stockley’s performances in the Championship and League One, he would not be good enough for Sunderland either.

Grigg was brought in with the sole focus of scoring enough goals to take the Black Cats up but that simply hasn’t happened. It’s incredibly likely that a similar story would occur if Kristjaan Speakman brings the 27-year-old to the north-east in January.

AND in other news, Drop him: Sunderland ace who lost possession 17x will surely have Johnson seething...