Mariners loan may be a springboard for Robson
ACADEMY STAR IS THRIVING AT GRIMSBY
ETHAN Robson can follow the same path as Elliot Embleton, using his loan spell at Grimsby Town as a springboard to the Sunderland first team. That is the view of Black Cats manager Jack Ross, who has praised the impact the academy product has made with the Mariners since joining the League Two side on deadline day on a deal which runs until January. Robson has scored three goals in his last two games for Grimsby, netting the winner against Macclesfield before scoring twice in last weekend’s 3-1 victory at Exeter City. Ross points to the progress Embleton made in a season-long loan with the Lincolnshire club last term, the 20-year-old going on to play a part this season for the Black Cats until a hamstring injury sustained in the Carabao Cup win at Sheffield United.
He says Embleton thrived at Grimsby, taking on increased responsibility, making 30 appearances and scoring four goals.
Ross said: “Elliot was in a similar situation to Robson last season – he would always back himself, because he is a good player and he has a lot of self-belief.
“He went to Grimsby and they looked to him to be a talisman and to be creative for them.
“There is also a different feeling when you are seen as the main man at a club, rather than getting into the team here and maybe going under the radar a little bit.
“It is changing your mindset and Elliot responded really well to it last year - hopefully it will have the same effect on Ethan.”
At 22, Robson has played fewer than 35 senior games – the majority of which have come during his loan spell at Grimsby and last season at Scottish Premiership side Dundee – and Ross sanctioned his current loan move to allow him to play regular first-team football, in the hope he will return ready to join Sunderland’s League One campaign.
Ross added: “Ethan needs to play. When he came back for preseason, that was the plan for him here but he had a lot of niggles and he was not really fit at all.
“He is 23 this month and some of the players we have recruited who are around the same age – Jordan Willis and Luke O’Nien are slightly older while George Dobson is slightly younger – have all played well over 100 games.
“Ethan has maybe suffered a bit from not playing enough football up to now but this loan move up to January allows us to get games into him again, as he did on loan at Dundee last season.
“It is good for him and good for us as well because the ideal scenario is he comes back from there and does well for us.”