Wyke ahead of schedule in his recovery
CHARLIE Wyke is making good progress in his return from a knee injury – but Sunderland manager Jack Ross is determined not to rush his centre-forward back as he did earlier in the season.
The Black Cats are at Plymouth Argyle tomorrow with no fresh injuries but with only centre-back Glenn Loovens added to the squad – and after three straight clean sheets the Dutch international will probably find it hard to get a game.
However, behind the scenes, Wyke feels ahead of schedule in his return.
The striker was Sunderland’s biggest signing this summer but arrived with a knee injury picked up in pre-season and suffered another problem with the same joint in his first league start at Burton Albion.
He was not expected back before Christmas.
Ross said: “Charlie is where we expected him to be in terms of the time frame, perhaps slightly ahead of it.
“The time frame was always around Christmas-time for a return. I think he feels he might be a little bit earlier than that.
“He had a similar type of injury at the start of the season and I think he feels better than he did that time.
“Also we are probably putting less pressure on him this time.
“Last time there was a real urgency to get him back because we had limited options in forward areas but we have a little bit more depth now)- perhaps not a huge amount but we are prepared to be a little bit more patient with him.”
Loovens limped off with a muscle problem at the start of September’s game at Coventry City but is now ready to compete for a place with Jack Baldwin and Tom Flanagan.
Ross added: “Glenn will come back into the squad.
“He has been through two weeks of full training. Ideally we would like him to get game time but that is not always possible.
“He has trained fine with no reaction so he is back in the squad.”