Sunderland's one main regret from the transfer window will be their inability to pick up a new striker, with no guarantee at the Stadium of Light that their current crop of attackers will be reliable in front of goal when it matters.

Mason Burstow was chosen as Michael Beale's lone striker versus Middlesbrough last game, the Chelsea loanee largely anonymous against Michael Carrick's men before Nazariy Rusyn stole the show from off the bench with a shock goal.

Regardless of Rusyn coming up trumps for the Black Cats at the Riverside Stadium, Sunderland could well look back on this failed capture in the window with immense sorrow if the player in question fires a different Championship side to promotion.

Sunderland's interest in Kieffer Moore

Wanted by a whole host of second tier sides when the window was open, Kieffer Moore would eventually relocate to former employers Ipswich Town on a loan switch from AFC Bournemouth to the dismay of Beale's men.

Sunderland's interest in the prolific £15k per week Welshman was well documented right up until Deadline Day, with the Tractor Boys just able to offer up a more attractive deal to the towering 6 foot 5 striker over the Black Cats in the end.

Beale and Co will hope their powerlessness in failing to land Moore until the end of the season doesn't come back to bite them, with the Championship promotion hopefuls having to rely on inconsistent strikers such as Burstow and Rusyn to come good away from the polished second tier goal machine.

Moore's numbers in the Championship

Moore could well have been the best possible fix to Sunderland's striker woes, the new Ipswich loanee showcasing his deadly knack of finding the back of the net on his debut for Kieran McKenna's Tractor Boys just last weekend.

The 31-year-old would only need one half of football away at Preston North End to make the Black Cats further rue their failures in the transfer market, scoring two goals late on at Deepdale in an authoritative showing from the experienced centre-forward.

This excellent brace couldn't help Ipswich pull off an unbelievable comeback in the eventual 3-2 loss, but those two goals would bump Moore's total at the level up to an impressive 49 strikes.

Moore's potent time playing for Cardiff City – which saw him bag 20 goals during the 2020-21 campaign in the Championship – even saw a notoriously hard-to-please Mick McCarthy describe the striker as "terrific" when he was in charge of the Bluebirds.

Sunderland would have loved to have had such an imposing presence up top versus Middlesbrough, with Burstow offering very little in reality.

Only managing 18 touches of the ball before Beale substituted the ex-Charlton youngster off for Rusyn, Burstow looked afraid to leave his mark on proceedings – failing to register a single shot on goal from a forgettable 67-minute spell on the Riverside pitch.

This has been typical of Burstow's overall sub-par season donning a Black Cats strip since relocating from Stamford Bridge, only finding the back of the net once from an unremarkable 19 appearances. Already Moore has beaten that tally in one game.

Beale will just have to keep selecting the likes of Burstow and Rusyn hoping that a clinical striker is unearthed eventually, with the incompetence to not get Moore through the Stadium of Light door potentially haunting the Wearside club if Moore manages to be crucial to Ipswich jumping up to the Premier League.