Sunderland defender Niall Huggins was dealt another injury blow on his comeback trail after pulling his hamstring in the warm-up for the Under-21s side. The 22-year-old full-back was set to start for the young Black Cats as they took on Nottingham Forest U21s at Eppleton last night.
However, he was replaced by youngster Ben Crompton after yet another injury setback. Huggins has made just two appearances for Tony Mowbray's first-team after recovering from a major injury that ruled him out for the majority of last season.
He returned to the fold against Birmingham City in November after a steady comeback with the Under-21s, managing the whole 90 minutes against the Blues. However, he's not featured in a first-team Championship squad since then with options aplenty for Mowbray.
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The defender's last outing in a red and white shirt came in the away FA Cup tie at Fulham where here managed 45 minutes but picked up another injury. Huggins had been named alongside Dennis Cirkin who made his return to the team at Burnley, coming off the bench having been ruled out of the past few games after picking up concussion scoring an equaliser at Millwall back in February.
Defender Joe Anderson was also named in the starting XI as Graeme Murty's side sprung a surprise and ended the Premier League 2 Division 2 campaign on home soil with a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest. The young Black Cats travel to West Brom in two weeks' time for their final game of the season.
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