DJIBRIL Cissé played through the pain at the weekend and Ricky Sbragia believes that his perseverance will be repaid in goals as the season draws to a conclusion.

The Frenchman’s attitude has been questioned in some quarters since he went public in early March on Sunderland’s failure to open contract negotiations with him.

It has coincided with a dry spell in front of goal stretching back to February 1 – which was instrumental in dragging the Black Cats into the Premier League relegation picture.

But Sunderland manager Sbragia pointed to the way Kenwyne Jones ended his own seven-match goalless streak against Manchester United to encourage the on-loan forward not to lose heart before last week’s crucial match against fellow strugglers Hull City.

It paid off, Cissé finding the net from what looked like an offside position to seal a vital 1-0 home victory.

Now Sbragia expects a run of goals from a player who hit eight before Christmas.

“Kenwyne got the goal last week and we said to Djib it would just be a matter of time before he got one too,” Sbragia said.

“Persevere, keep working and it’ll come for you. He could go through a purple patch now. In general he was excellent on Saturday.”

With David Healy struggling with a groin injury picked up on international duty, the Black Cats are not well blessed with alternatives to their preferred front two of Jones and Cissé.

It is why Sbragia urged the

latter to stay on the field when he was starting to feel the pain with the match against the Tigers still in the balance.

“He indicated he wanted to come off with ten minutes to go because he had a slight injury, but I just asked him to stay on for me and keep working and he’s done that,” said the Scotsman. “He’s been rewarded with a goal as well.”

Sunderland have been alarmingly dependent on a talented forward pairing who have never really clicked as a partnership.