Take it as Red, Cats’ Oviedo is truly sorry
BRYAN Oviedo has apologised for his midweek red card - and manager Jack Ross insists it is only human to make mistakes.
Oviedo starts a three-game ban this weekend after he was sent off for the first time in his career, having kicked out at Marcus Maddison in Sunderland’s 2-2 draw against Peterborough United on Tuesday night.
The Black Cats were leading 1-0 at the time but Posh equalised soon after Oviedo’s dismissal only for Jerome Sinclair to restore Sunderland ‘s lead - although the visitors then levelled for a second time.
Oviedo will miss tomorrow’s trip to Bradford City, as well as the visits to Shrewsbury Town and Doncaster Rovers later this month.
He will also be away on international duty for Tuesday’s Checkatrade Trophy game against Carlisle.
Ross said: “Bryan came to speak to me this morning.
“He was very apologetic about it and he is quite gutted because he was telling me it was the first red card of his career,.
“I said after the game it was out of character and it was.
“For me, it was a mistake - a poor choice - but he could have made a mistake with a pass-back to Jon McLaughlin and someone intercepts it and scores.
“The game is played by human beings.
“It is disappointing because it had an impact on the game but Bryan is genuinely gutted by it and I could see that was still the case.
“Ther is absolutely zero Bryan or I can do about it now, it is done, so the disappointing thing is he is going to miss games and, with the Blackpool game being postponed, the way the fixtures work out he will not be available again until towards the end of October.
“The other side of that is the fact it will give opportunities to somebody else.”
With Oviedo suspended and Denver Hume missing for a minimum of six weeks with a knee injury, summer signing Reece James has risen from third in the pecking order and is set to come into the side at Valley Parade this weekend - marking his first league start since the end of August.
Ross added: “It shows you how strange the game can be.
“This is an opportunity for him and not just a one-off opportunity, a run of games.
“When Reece has had opportunities already he has done fine.
“He did well at Gillingham when he was thrown in on the night having not had much game time. For me, it stresses how important it is to have continual communication with your players.
“Reece and I still speak, even when he is not involved, and he has just kept doing what he is doing, trained well and his attitude has been good.
“So it is not a case of me all of sudden becoming his best pal having not spoken to him for weeks.
“He is a good player and he has won promotions with Wigan, so it does not worry me putting him in the team.”