Carlos Edwards will not allow a deflection to deprive him of his first goal at the Stadium of Light.
The Trinidad and Tobago international winger scored Sunderland's second goal six minutes from time to complete a 2-0 victory against Coventry City.
His 25-yard bullet hit a Sky Blues defender which diverted it out of the reach of Coventry goalkeeper Luke Steele, but Edwards is still claiming the goal - his second since moving to Wearside last month and his first in front of the home crowd.
He said: "I am claiming it. The shot was on target, but the defender did get a touch which was probably decisive.
"The goalkeeper might have got a hand on it without the deflection, but I still see it as my goal.
"It was a relief to get the second goal because at that time we were a bit under the cosh and getting the second relieved some of the pressure."
Edwards' Trinidad and Tobago team-mate Dwight Yorke gave Sunderland the lead in the 20th minute and the Black Cats could have won by more had referee Scott Mathieson not rejected two strong penalty appeals from the home side.
The second appeal came near the end when Edwards was brought down by Steele after he had knocked the ball beyond the keeper.
Edwards added: "For me it was a penalty. I reached the ball first and there was contact from the goalkeeper.
"The referee is in charge of the game and he said no, but there was contact after I touched the ball.
"Sometimes things do not go your way and there is no point in having an inquest and wondering why you did not get the decision.
"We should have had one on this occasion. Hopefully, we will get the chance to take a penalty and the person stepping up will have the confidence to put it into the net.
"I don't know who will take it, but I would not mind having a go. I would be confident."
Sunderland's win came after their goalless draw at home against Crystal Palace on Tuesday night.
The Black Cats climbed two places to seventh and are two points outside the top six after winning five of their last seven league games and keeping five clean sheets in the process.
Edwards said: "The least we would have expected from those two home games was four points, but we could have had all six.
"We have to take at positives and we have moved up two places in the table so we are making progress in the right direction.
"We are keeping the clean sheets and the strikers and midfielders are contributing goals, which will hopefully take us to our target.
"Clean sheets are important to us because we need to improve the goal difference as well as the points."
Edwards' thoughts were also with striker David Connolly, who missed the game after sustaining a nasty facial injury.
He said: "Accidents happen and it was unfortunate for that to occur with David.
"We are all hoping he makes a speedy recovery and we do miss him because he works so hard for the team and is a real goal threat for us."