Sunderland clinched a place in the Championship play-offs on the final day of the season - but Tony Mowbray came away from Deepdale with fresh injury concerns. The Black Cats beat Preston 3-0 thanks to goals from Amad, Alex Pritchard, and Jack Clarke, and, with Blackburn Rovers winning 4-3 at Millwall, that meant the Wearsiders finished sixth in the table.
They will now play Luton Town in the play-off semi-final, with the first leg at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. But Mowbray now faces an anxious wait to discover whether defenders Dennis Cirkin and Lynden Gooch will be fit to face the Hatters after they were substituted against Preston.
Cirkin went off at half-time with an ankle problem, while Gooch was withdrawn midway through the second period with an unspecified injury. Of the two, Mowbray says Cirkin's injury is the greater concern.
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"We'll have to wait and see, we've picked up an injury to Dennis and to Goochy," said Mowbray. "We are running out of defenders rapidly and they [Luton] have two 6ft 4 strikers so as I sit here now, the conundrum in front of us is a really difficult one.
"We've got this week to prepare and decide how we want to do it, and with the help of the fans I'm sure we can give a good account of ourselves and hopefully something to hold onto. Dennis' ankle, he couldn't move it.
"It had swollen up on him and he had no feeling in it, we'll have to wait and see. I sit here and hope we can strap it up or whatever and send him out to play, we'll see.
"Gooch I've got less concern about because to be honest, I think if his leg is hanging off he'll go out and play. Let's hope we get positive news through the week. I know the supporters will drive the team on and hopefully we'll be competitive regardless."
Sunderland are already in the grip of a defensive injury crisis with Danny Batth, Aji Alese, and Dan Ballard all sidelined, although Mowbray said last week that there might be a chance that Ballard could return if the team reached the play-offs.
Midfielder Edouard Michut was ill before the game was able to play a part from the bench, coming on in the final 20 minutes. Mowbray said: "Michut has been ill all week.
"He hasn't trained with the team. He came to the hotel at ten o'clock last night, on his own with a driver.
"We put him on the bench, and we felt at 3-0 it was worth bringing him on because he gives us a level of control that other players maybe don't."
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