Seasiders have to wait until mid-winter before seeing the Light

SUNDERLAND’S rearranged home game against Blackpool will not be played until February.

The Black Cats have confirmed the game against the Seasiders at the Stadium of Light will go ahead on Tuesday, February 12 (7.45).

The match was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday, October 13, but Sunderland exercised their right to ask for a postponement after having three players - Scotland’s Jon McLaughlin, Northern Ireland’s Tom Flanagan, and Costa Rica’s Bryan Oviedo - called up for international duty.

It has proved problematic to find a midweek slot to play the game, particularly while Blackpool were still involved in the Carabao Cup, but they have now been knocked out of that competition by Arsenal.

To avoid a fixture backlog in the second half of the season, Black Cats boss Jack Ross was keen for the home game against Wycombe Wanderers on November 17 to go ahead as planned even if Sunderland had the option of asking for another postponement,

In the event, they could not have done so because only McLaughlin and Flanagan were called up by their international squads, which meant they did not have the three call-ups required to ask for the game to be moved.

Both McLaughlin and Flanagan were also released from their international squads and allowed to play for Sunderland against the Chairboys, which made it a non-issue.