Sunderland picked up their first win since the 2nd of November by beating Doncaster Rovers 2-1 at the Keepmoat Stadium on Sunday.

The Black Cats have had a shaky few months under Phil Parkinson but grabbed a desperately needed three points against Doncaster.

Darren Moore's side were likely high on confidence after their 3-0 win over Peterborough United on Boxing Day but it was the Black Cats who struck first.

Chris Maguire fed the ball to Lynden Gooch from a free-kick and the 24-year-old fired the ball into the corner from the edge of the box.

Jon Taylor equalised for Rovers, tapping in a low cross at the back post just before the half.

Parkinson's men went back in front through Maguire just after the hour mark, with the Scotsman arriving late to slam a bobbling cross into the bottom corner.

That result means Sunderland move to within five points of the top six ahead of their trip to Fleetwood Town on New Year's Day.

Before the focus switches to that game, here are three things we learnt about the Black Cats from Sunday's victory...

Maguire looks set to be key to a late-season play-off push.

The 30-year-old has been one of Sunderland's most impressive attacking players this season, providing six goals and four assists, and showed on Sunday that he will likely be key if they're to climb back up the table into the top six.

Maguire was unplayable at times against Rovers–providing the assist for the first goal and scoring the second, as well as forcing a number of saves and hitting the bar.

Think you know Sunderland? Take our Boxing Day quiz to test yourself!

Charlie Wyke looks to be settling in as the first-choice striker.

One of Sunderland's key issues this season has been their lack of an in-form striker.

Will Grigg, Marc McNulty, and Wyke have been disappointing up to this point, only adding five goals between them.

He didn't find the net against Doncaster but Wyke proved himself a real nuisance and tested Seny Dieng on multiple occasions, in addition to working extremely hard throughout.

The 27-year-old missed a large part of the first half of the season due to injury but he is back now and looks to be settling in as the first-choice striker.

Parkinson must find a way for the fans to be an advantage, not a disadvantage. 

In terms of following, Sunderland are a huge club and that showed on Sunday as there were reportedly 4,000 Black Cats fans packed into the Keepmoat Stadium.

They were loud from the off and really got behind their side after Lynden Gooch's goal inside 10 minutes, which appeared to really boost the players.

Given the recent form of the North East side, it is no wonder there is some frustration amongst fans, but Parkinson needs to find a way to use them as an advantage–as they were against Doncaster.

That could be key to turning the season around.