Gelhardt is on loan at Sunderland until the end of the season and the Leeds starlet is heading the Black Cats’ frontline in the absence of their main man, Ross Stewart.
The 20-year-old centre-forward has started five consecutive league matches for Sunderland and on Tuesday scored his first goal for the Black Cats in their defeat against Rotherham.
Mowbray revealed that the Leeds loanee is a good footballer with an excellent work ethic and he is confident that Gelhardt will score more goals for them.
The Sunderland boss admitted that it will be a tough task for Gelhardt to play up front on his own but stressed that it will be a good learning curve for the Leeds man.
“I think he works really hard”, Mowbray was quoted as saying by Chronicle Live.
“He will score goals and he’s a good footballer.
“He’s disappointed he didn’t score another goal with the header after [Patrick] Roberts had flicked one into the box for him. Is it important he’s got off the mark?
“Listen, strikers have to score goals, don’t they?
“That’s their job.
“It’s what they do, although he’s only a very young boy and he’s being asked to play up front every game on his own.
“It’s not easy for him, and we have to try to give him support and help him.
“He has to keep working as hard as he is, and whether he can keep doing it for the next 13 games or whatever it is, is going to be a big ask.
“He’s only a boy who’s never really played consecutive games, but we’ll see.
“It’ll be a good learning curve for him.”
Sunderland will take on Coventry City on Saturday and Gelhardt is expected to lead the frontline against Mark Robins’ side.
