With Sunderland’s victory over Preston on Monday, Nazariy Rusyn, a Ukrainian striker, finally snapped his goal drought. Now, Michael Baldwin is prepared to give him a longer stint in the starting lineup.
On New Year’s Day, Rusyn converted Jack Clarke’s cross to become the first of Sunderland’s four summer attacking acquisitions to open his account for the Black Cats.
The 25-year-old was making his seventh start for the team. Beale had grown impatient with Sunderland’s lack of creativity throughout the first 45 minutes of their matchup with Rotherham United last Friday. Sunderland was playing without a designated center-forward.
Rusyn is expected to maintain his spot in the starting lineup after making an immediate impact on Monday as the Black Cats advanced back into the play-off spots.
And with his confidence flowing after his accomplished finish against Preston, Beale is backing the Ukraine international to make life difficult for Newcastle’s defenders tomorrow lunchtime.
The first half of the Rotherham game was deflating for me, to be honest,” admitted Beale. “I could just see that we were really blunt in the attack. It wasn’t so much an issue with the players that we had on the pitch, it was more an issue with the balance and the blend of those players.
We made a conscious decision to change things at half-time in that game, and went with Mason (Burstow) for the second half. Then, through having some conversations and watching and learning more about Naz, I felt it was the right time to give him a go (against Preston).
“In the couple of games before I’d come, he’d hit the bar in one of the games and been unlucky. His work ethic is quite infections, and that was really my focus for him going into the team on New Year’s Day. We knew we were leggy going into it, but we knew he was an infectious player who was going to work hard.
“It was important he focused on that first, giving the team a real work ethic with his pressing, and I think the goals will come off the back of that. That’s what’s happened for him, and long may that continue. I think the challenge for him this weekend is much greater, but he goes into it in the best possible frame of mind.”
With the pressure having built as Sunderland’s strikers struggled in front of goal, there was a collective outpouring of emotion when Rusyn finally found the back of the net.
His team-mates sprinted over to celebrate with him, with the Stadium of Light crowd also roaring their approval as the goal helped secure a valuable three points.
“It was a lovely personal moment for him, but it was a real weight off the backs of the fans and the rest of the squad too,” agreed Beale. “It was important that we had a striker score a goal.
“The focus has been on Jack’s run, which was a fantastic run, but the movement was Naz was very, very good too. Thar’s maybe something that the team has lacked so far this season.
“I’m sure he will go into the weekend’s game full of confidence. You can see how hard he works at his game, and the fans have taken to that already. If he can continue scoring, then he’ll become a fans’ favourite quite quickly I believe.”
For the moment, Rusyn has moved himself ahead of Burstow, Eliezer Mayenda and Luis Hemir in Sunderland’s attacking pecking order.
His physical presence transforms the way Sunderland are able to play, and enables the Black Cats’ wide players to play balls into the box rather than constantly having to look to cut in to get a shot away because of a lack of targets in the penalty area.
With Rusyn leading the line and tying up at least one centre-half, there is also more space for Alex Pritchard and Jobe Bellingham to exploit, with the former, in particular, having caught Beale’s eye on a number of occasions during Monday’s victory.
Losing Patrick Roberts to a calf injury at Rotherham was a blow, but it has been at least partially ameliorated by the return of a fully-fit Pritchard to the starting side.
“Patrick has an issue with his calf at the moment, and while we think we’ve caught it at the right time, we certainly won’t rush him,” said the Black Cats boss. “We know that towards the back end of the season, the fixtures all pile upon themselves again.
“It was nice, in a way, because we hadn’t had Pritchard available for a couple of games. As we lost Paddy, Pritch became available so, in a way, that worked out for us. I thought Pritchard was fantastic at the weekend.”
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