Cirkin set to miss out on Royals test after concussion protocols

Dennis Cirkin is set to miss Sunderland's Championship game against Reading but Tony Mowbray is hopeful that the defender will return to bolster his defensive depth at QPR in midweek.

Cirkin has been going through the concussion protocols after being knocked out in the process of scoring his team's equaliser against Millwall last weekend, and having taken a few days to fully recover, Saturday has come round too soon.

Mowbray is therefore expecting to be picking from just about the same squad of players as on Wednesday night against Fulham, though he does now have Isaac Lihadji available after the winger's registration and work permit process was completed successfully.

"Dennis won't be back for this game, no," Mowbray said.

"It took a day or two longer than we hoped to get him back to no symptoms.

"He is back on the grass now. That time process has started and I'm pretty sure he'll be available for Tuesday, so unfortunately he'll miss the weekend.

"There's nobody added or nobody lost from midweek.

"There's a few people who have not trained since midweek but we're pretty hopeful they'll be available for tomorrow.

"The injuries are still the injuries. We have five firstteam players unavailable but that's pretty normal for this stage of the season. I try not to make too much of it, get on with it."

Mowbray also offered an update on Niall Huggins, who has been absent from the last two matchday squads as he continues to phase his way back into the group following long-term issues.

"He's just got a slight knock," Mowbray said.

"He does have a knock that's preventing him from playing but we have to try and get Niall right rather than get him back, play one game, miss three or four. We're trying to give him the time he needs.

"He is back on the grass running around the pitches today so he's telling me he's not far away, he's going to be in the squads in the next week or two, but at this moment he's not available because of injury."

While not available for Saturday or in all likelihood for the trip to QPR, Mowbray added that Lynden Gooch's return 'hopefully isn't too far away'.