JACK ROSS was delighted with the way Sunderland delivered three points on an afternoon when the club’s prospective new owners were at the Stadium of Light.

Chris Maguire struck his first hat-trick in English football to secure a 3-1 win over Wimbledon on Wearside, earning a third league win in a row for the Black Cats.

Maguire’s treble was watched by the group of American investors - Glenn Fuhrman, John Phelan and Robert Platek – who are close to taking over from owner Stewart Donald.

And Ross, full of smiles after Sunderland climbed to fourth, is focused on ensuring the results keep coming regardless of who is in charge.

Ross said: “I've not met them, no. My focus was very much on trying to prepare the team for today.

“It's OK for me. It's never quiet here! I don't think a day goes by when I don't have to deal with something.”

He added: “We spoke beforehand about the importance of continuing this momentum we've built up and when you play at home it gives you a good chance.

“Winning the game is the thing that matters but doing it in the manner we did is really pleasing. It could have been more emphatic in terms of the scoreline but it was really pleasing in terms of the overall performance.

“I speak a lot to Chris because he's a little bit of an enigma at times. He has real quality about his play and with the quality he has, he should always be in my team. That's my message for him. I speak about it a lot with him.”

Sunderland should have won by a more than they did because they wasted a number of chances, particularly in the second half.

Wimbledon, though, were never completely out of it and did cancel out Maguire’s first through Kwesi Appiah in the first half.

Sunderland went ahead in the eighth minute when Maguire, who had a couple of other decent efforts from distance that went wide, got in behind the defence to lob goalkeeper Nathan Trott after a long punt from Jon McLaughlin.

But Wimbledon, against the run of play, equalised in the 34th minute when right-back Luke O’Neill’s cross was headed in by the unmarked Appiah from close range.

Sunderland had more chances but reclaimed the lead when Maguire’s deflected drive from distance through a crowded area beat Trott again. He then completed his hat-trick by heading in Luke O’Nien’s cross 11 minutes from time.

Ross, who is closing in on a deal for Wales defender and free agent Joel Lynch, said: “I would hope we would have another central defender before the end of the week and we're still pursuing a left-back. The centre-back is pretty much done.

“He's the person we're trying to get in. He just gives us another body in a central defensive area with experience at a higher level. We feel as if all round the pitch we have strength in depth.”

SUNDERLAND (4-2-3-1): McLaughlin; O’Nien, Willis, Ozturk, Hume; Power (McGeouch 67), Leadbitter; Gooch (Grigg 56), Maguire (Dobson 81), McGeady; Wyke. Subs (not used): Burge (gk), C McLaughlin, Flanagan, Embleton.

WIMBLEDON (3-5-2): Trott; Kalambayi (Nightingale 61), Thomas, McDonald; O’Neill, Wagstaff, Hartigan, Reilly (Pinnock 78), Guinness-Walker; Appiah, Folivi (Connolly 62). Subs (not used): Tzanev (gk), Roscrow, McLoughlin, Pigott.