Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe has revealed that he is feeling sharper than he has done in a long time following his two goals in the pre-season friendly victory over Toronto.

The brace against his former club was the England international’s first strikes of the pre-season campaign and it also gave the Black Cats their first victory of their North American tour following defeats to Sacramento Republic and Pachuca last week.

The 32-year-old is preparing for his first full season in the north east having joined the club from Toronto in January before going on to score four goals in 17 appearances as the Black Cats secured survival in the Premier League.

The former Tottenham man admitted after his side’s latest victory that he is feeling sharp and that he is hopeful that he can continue to score goals and help the team win football matches.

He said: “I feel like I needed the pre-season. Today was the sharpest I felt in a long time. It’s still a case of getting our fitness up. But at the same time, you want to be sharp, score goals and win the games.”

The experienced forward is keen to continue his preparations further ahead of the new season with Dick Advocaat’s side set to take on Doncaster and Hannover in their final two warm-up matches before their opening Premier League fixture of the campaign against Leicester at the King Power Stadium on August 8.

He continued: “We’ve got a couple of weeks until the season starts and we’ve got two more pre-season games. By the time the season starts, hopefully we’ll be ready.”

The Black Cats are outsiders to begin the campaign with a victory at 4.00, with the hosts on offer at 2.00 and the draw available at 3.30.