9 successful dribbles, 6 progressive runs: The Sunderland player who showed he has a lot to offer the club v Gillingham | OneFootball

Sunderland may have left it very, very late, but they secured all three points in the end this past weekend when they squeezed past Gillingham to enhance their play-off credentials.

In truth it was a dominant performance by Sunderland when you look at the stats, with the Black Cats attempting 25 shots – just five of those on target though – whilst the Gills did not have a single shot on target.

Neil Harris’s side were overwhelmed and had just 19 per cent of the possession, but they almost hung on in there until Nathan Broadhead’s 95th minute strike found the back of the net.

Alex Neil’s men attacked with purpose and they had two players out wide who were looking to make things happen in Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts – the latter who is playing for his future going into the 2022-23 season.

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Once a starlet who was picked up by Manchester City from Fulham as an 18-year-old for a £12 million fee, Roberts somewhat lost his way following a successful loan stint at Celtic, having not made an impact for Norwich City, Middlesbrough, Derby County and Troyes in France.

However a chance came up to make the switch to Sunderland on a permanent basis in January with his Man City contract coming to an end soon, but with it only lasting until the end of the current campaign initially, Roberts has to prove that he’s worthy of the Wearsiders triggering an extension to keep him until the summer of 2023.

It had been somewhat of an unspectacular start for the playmaker at the club, but after coming off the bench against Crewe prior to the international break to get his first goal, Roberts has started the last tw0 matches and against Gillingham he showed what he was about.

At his best, Roberts is a player who gets on the ball, dribbles with it and makes things happen, and the stats from the match against the Gills prove just that.

Roberts completed nine of his 16 attempted dribbles, made six progressive runs and provided four shot assists to try and bring others into scoring opportunities (stats via Wyscout).

It wasn’t all great for Roberts however, with none of his six cross attempts being successful, although his pass accuracy stood at 83 per cent and he was a perfect six from six when it came to completing passes into the final third.

Roberts may still have to show more if he wants to be still at Sunderland next season, but he’s showing signs that the penny really is dropping and that he’s getting his career back on track at a big club.