Jewison Bennette is set to return to the Sunderland squad ahead of tomorrow's trip to Rotherham United after missing the weekend draw against Bristol City with a minor knock. Costa Rica winger Bennette was not included on the teamsheet on Saturday, with Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray explaining today that the 18-year-old took a kick on the calf but that he has now returned to training.
Mowbray also said defender Niall Huggins was continuing his recovery from an ankle problem and Lynden Gooch trained for the first time today as he returns to fitness following a hip flexor issue, but both are not yet ready to rejoin Sunderland's Championship campaign.
"Jewison had a kick on the calf which is why he didn't make the squad [at the weekend], but he was training with us today so he'll be involved in some capacity at Rotherham," said Mowbray.
"Niall Huggins is back training but he's a week or so away [from being in contention]. We want him to train regularly, whether it's with us or the U21s depending on the schedule that we have.
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"Lynden has had his boots on today, so that will probably be another week or two away, but that's a boost for us to see him with his boots on. We've got one or two knocks from the weekend but we think they'll be alright, we'll do a fitness test before we go."
Sunderland's game against Bristol City was their fifth in 15 days, and the busy schedule continues this week with the visit to Rotherham followed by Saturday's trip to Coventry City. Mowbray has made changes in recent games to deal with the workload on his players and intends to do so again tomorrow.
He said: "We're trying to get the balance right. We've made three changes in the last couple of games, and there'll probably be another three changes for Rotherham.
"There might be for the weekend again, but then after that, we've got a week of going Saturday to Saturday [between games] where hopefully we can recover a bit. At this moment, we're not really tinkering because of the opposition, the changes are about our team and who we think might need a bit of a rest."
Mowbray's changes at QPR last Tuesday and then at the weekend were made in midfield and forward areas, but tomorrow he is planning to make changes to his defence. He said: "There will be changes in the defence.
"I probably shouldn't be telling you that, but there will be. I see the players after the game, and they can barely move, they are absolutely exhausted with the effort that they're putting into football matches.
"Then, you ask them to go and train for a couple of days after and then do it again. They're not necessarily going to drop off because they can go again, they can keep pushing themselves beyond what they feel is their maximum. I feel we could keep doing that, but I also feel that we've got a squad of players where we can cover for a few players. Hopefully, that doesn’t weaken us, other than maybe the consistency aspect, particularly when you're talking about defenders.
"The understanding builds up within a defence, you get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses, so when you start tinkering with that, there can be a bit of uncertainty about what somebody's going to do when the ball goes into a certain area. That's probably why there's sometimes a bit of resistance about changing the backline if it's doing well, but then sometimes you just have to accept that a change or two is required."
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