Graeme Murty reveals Sunderland were able to accelerate Niall Huggins' injury return plan after the 21-year-old came through a training session unscathed earlier this week. The former Leeds United full-back picked up a back injury just a month into his Wearside tenure and suffered a number of setbacks on his comeback.
He played 45 minutes for Sunderland as the Black Cats slipped to a 3-1 defeat in the Premier League Cup opener at Eppleton. "Well we didn't know whether he was going to be involved or not," said Murty. "They played an 11 vs 11 for the first team when they were setting up in shape in preparation for the weekend, he came through really well so the first team said we can accelerate him and stick him in.
"I thought there were some really good bits and it's great to see him back. He was full of beans and desperate to be involved so I'm really happy for him to come through unscathed and I thought he showed bits of why he's a first team players."
READ MORE: Niall Huggins unscathed on injury return as Sunderland u21s slump to Reading defeat
It's still too early for the Black Cats to make a call on whether Huggins will get another run out for the Under-21s again as he looks to build his fitness. Murty added: "I've got no idea what the plan is from now. Obviously the first team staff have got prep for the weekend and we'll just take any advice as it comes and make sure we're available as a resource for the first team if he needs more minutes. As we were in the last game against Leeds."
It was a disappointing display from Sunderland who slipped to their sixth defeat in eight games, picking up their fourth red card in as many games. Murty said: "I think frustrating is the word because we were a little bit passive, a little bit accommodating in the first period both with and without the ball. We allowed Reading to do what they wanted to without actually trying to dictate to them.
"I thought we were a little bit reactive. We did well to get back into the game and at the start of the second-half I thought we'd started really, really well. The lads took what we said in the changing room into effect and I thought they were putting that plan into effect.
"That then got derailed a little bit with the red card and you're trying to mitigate that damage, whilst still getting the players to be brave and play, whilst understanding a different kind of defensive game. I can't fault the lads for their effort or the way they tried to play.
"I can't fault some of the stuff that we managed to play, but ultimately, individual errors in our defensive third have cost us."
Max Thompson was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on his Reading counterpart, with referee Matthew Diccio sending the Sunderland striker for an early shower.
"It doesn't really matter if I complain the referee has done it," Murty said. "I've just said to Max there, if you put the referee in a situation where he has to make a decision, don't be surprised if he makes that one.
"I just felt for the lads that had to play 30 odd minutes with ten men, because Reading deal with the ball quite nicely. They shift the ball slickly and they want to hurt you with possession so it's going to be a hard shift. To their credit, they were up for it and managed to work through it but we came up a little bit short."
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