Tony Mowbray is banking on Luke O'Nien being available for Sunderland's trip to West Bromwich Albion this weekend - but admits there are no guarantees with the defender's baby now overdue, and the club will have a car on standby in case he needs to return home in a hurry. O'Nien and his wife Georgia were expecting their new arrival earlier this week and Mowbray allowed the player to stay at home on Wearside over Easter rather than make the long six-hour trip for the Black Cats' game at Cardiff City on Easter Monday in case the baby arrived early.
The 28-year-old played in the home games against Birmingham City last Saturday and then Huddersfield Town on Tuesday, but the Black Cats now face another lengthy away trip when they head to The Hawthorns for a Sunday lunchtime kick-off. The situation has become all the more urgent with skipper Danny Batth suffering a season-ending injury against the Terriers that leaves O'Nien as the club's only regular senior centre-half.
Both player and head coach are hoping the baby arrives safely before the game and it may be that he does not travel with the team and instead travels in a club car to the Midlands to reduce the amount of time he is away from home and to allow him to return home if necessary. Mowbray is keeping his fingers crossed that O'Nien will be clear to play against the Baggies but says, ultimately, the player and his family will come first.
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"We've got the situation with Luke O'Nien and his wife," said Mowbray. "The birth hasn't happened yet so we have to hope that that doesn't create an extra probem for us.
"We're trying to put some contingency plans in place - we were thinking 'helicopter' to be honest, but I don't think we will be doing that. I certainly won't be paying for it!
"Luke just needs to be clear in his mind that he can get to somewhere pretty quickly. We need to put some contingency plans in place, even if it's just a club car so that if, at any moment, he needs to leave then he needs to leave - that's what would happen.
"Rather than him driving his car down, we'll have a club car available for him to leave when it is necessary. I'm not sure yet whether he is getting on the bus with us or not, but I have spoken to him about the urgency of needing him to play in that one-and-a-half hour window.
"We need him to play but, if things don't allow that to happen and stuff happens around the time we need him, as I've always said, his family will come first and he will be allowed to go and be with his wife.
"He can see that we've been on board with his situation for a couple of weeks now and we will continue to do that.,
"We all hope that the one-and-a-half hour window on Sunday afternoon will be clear one way or another - either a successful birth in the next 24-36 hours or, or still waiting at 4pm on Sunday."
With so many injuries, Mowbray will bring a couple of the club's young players to West Bromwich after they have played in a crucial game at Premier League U18 title rivals Manchester City tomorrow afternoon. He said: "The U18 are playing a massive game at Manchester City and we're going to bring a couple of them down after they have played against Man City.
"They'll come over to our hotel and be in the squad, just in case."
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