Lynden Gooch and Dennis Cirkin have a chance of facing Luton Town in Sunderland's Championship play-off first leg tie on Saturday - but only if they come through training unscathed tomorrow. The pair were both substituted in the Black Cats' 3-0 win at Preston on the final day of the season, with Cirkin forced off at half-time with an ankle injury and Gooch withdrawn midway through the second period with a slight hamstring issue.
Of the two, Cirkin's injury is more of a concern than that of Gooch. Sunderland can ill-afford any more defensive injuries with Danny Batth (knee) and Aji Alese (thigh) already missing, while boss Tony Mowbray says Dan Ballard is unlikely to recover from his hamstring problem in time to face Luton in either the home leg at the Stadium of Light this weekend, or the return fixture at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday.
Neither Cirkin nor Gooch trained today but Mowbray hopes they will be involved tomorrow and, if so, they would come into contention for the weekend. "Neither of them have trained, but they might train tomorrow," he said.
