Wearsiders left sweating on fitness of three key players

INJURY doubts Aiden McGeady, Marc Wilson, and John O’Shea have not yet been ruled out of Sunderland’s home game against Cardiff City.

Winger McGeady (pictured) has not featured for Sunderland this month due to a hamstring problem.

Black Cats’ boss Simon Grayson revealed he suffered a setback last week which has delayed his return when it seemed he would be ready to make his comeback.

O’Shea has been out of action for a fortnight with a calf injury and fellow defender Wilson sat out the midweek Carabao Cup defeat at Everton with a groin problem.

All three, though, have done some work on the training ground this week and Grayson will wait until he discovers if they suffered any reaction to that before making a decision on whether any or all of the trio could figure against the Bluebirds today.

If they are not ready to face Cardiff, Sunderland have games at Ipswich Town on Tuesday night and then at Preston next weekend and they could play a part in those.

Of McGeady, Grayson said: “He has been doing work with the conditioning coach and the physios this week, as has John O’Shea.

“Marc Wilson has been with them in the latter part of the week.

“I have not named the team or anything like that because we need to see how people react to certain training sessions.

“They are all making good progress, it is just a case of whether they will be in contention against Cardiff.”