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Gus Poyet has insisted he will keep faith with goal-shy striker Jozy Altodore.

Sunderland head coach Poyet hailed Altidore's brilliant contribution to his side's 3-0 weekend win over arch-rivals Newcastle, and has told him not to worry about his lack of goalmouth action.

The United States international was dominant at the weekend, bullying the Magpies' defence and conjuring a series of superb lay-offs, including a neat flick that helped create the Adam Johnson goal which made it 2-0.

Altidore has only scored twice in 31 appearances this season since a £6.5million summer move from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar - against League One's MK Dons in the Capital One Cup, and Chelsea in a league defeat - and he missed one chance at St James' Park when clean through on Tim Krul.

But the powerful six-footer does act as a focal point for attacks, and helps with Poyet's game-plan that emphasises keeping possession.

Poyet said: "Jozy had a magnificent game at the weekend. I was so sad that he didn't score that chance. They practically gave it to him!

"But I said to him in the dressing room, 'Now you know how important you are, and you can feel it'. If we keep winning, his goal is going to come. But his performance was one of the biggest and most important points for us.

"It's difficult, because I know strikers. I played with a lot of strikers who were top scorers, and when they didn't score for a while, they would not pass the ball to you - they would shoot from anywhere because they wanted to score.

"He is not doing that, which is great and a credit to him.

"Somehow, we need to try to get him a goal. Maybe we need to beat the keeper and give it to him to tap in."