Pre-season on Wright course for Black Cat Bailey

SUNDERLAND DEFENDER FEELING ‘BEST HE HAS EVER’

BAILEY Wright is delighted with Sunderland’s start to pre-season, while he continues to go from strength to strength after recovering from an ankle ligament injury.

Wright’s loan spell at Sunderland was cut short last season when he suffered the injury at Oxford United, but he showed enough in his five outings for the club to earn a permanent contract.

And with an extended break due to Covid-19, the Australian defender has been able to return for pre-season training injury-free, while building up his match fitness with another 30 minutes in the win over Carlisle United on Tuesday, to add to his hour-long run out on Saturday against Gateshead.

Both games ended in 3-1 victories for Sunderland, and Wright is delighted with how things have gone so far, both for himself and the team.

He said after Carlisle: “It was good to get some more minutes in the bank, but I think it’s always important that we win the game as well.

“Winning is a good habit and we’ve got off to a good start with two wins.

“Carlisle was a good tough game against a physical and competitive side, and I think that’s another step in the right direction for our preparation for the new season.”

On his personal fitness, he continued: “I’m feeling the best I’ve been.

“My time out with injury was so frustrating but that’s part of football.

“Fortunately for myself I’ve had about six months to get myself fit because of everything that’s gone on. It made it a bit of a different rehab to what I’ve previously been used to. But it was a challenge that I just had to overcome and make the most of it with the extra time.

“I think I’ve done that because I feel good, I feel fit and I’m really looking forward to getting down to business and getting the season started now.”

Sunderland will host Harrogate Town on Saturday in what could end up being their third and final preseason game of the summer.

That might seem short, but they also have cup games against Hull City and Aston Villa U21s in the week before the season kicks off, and with the league the priority, both of those will be used more like a fitness-building run-out.

They’ve also played a few intrasquad friendlies at the Academy of Light, and Wright is certainly content with how things are looking.

“We look at our performances and how well we’re playing no matter what stage of pre-season it is,” he said. “The early parts of pre-season are about getting fit and getting up to speed. But we’ve had some games among ourselves on the training ground that have been played at a great tempo.

“Now we’ve had a couple of competitive games these last few days. And that’s important for us.

“It’s important that we start to form partnerships and start to get to know each other on the football pitch to allow us to express ourselves and get the best out of each other.

“There’s a lot of competition for places in the squad already and no one knows who’s going to have that shirt come the start of the season. But everyone will want that shirt and so they’ll be putting in the work to have it. We’ve had two wins and two good performances, but equally plenty that we can take away from it and work on, of course.

“But we’re in a really good place, there’s plenty of positivity around the place, and we’re all really enjoying it.”

One thing Wright isn’t enjoying as much is playing without fans. Games so far, and when the season gets under way, will be behind closed doors due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“It was strange to play without any fans at the Stadium of Light,” Wright admitted after the Carlisle win.

“It was nice to get that feel again for stepping out and playing at our home. That’s something we’ve all been looking forward to. But obviously we’d much prefer that it was a packed out stadium and it was rocking like the Stadium of Light can be.

“But who knows when that will be? We’ve just got to get on with it and focus on what happens on the pitch. That’s very much the case whether fans are there or they’re not. We have to focus on our jobs and execute that.

“Of course, we’d prefer our fans were in and being that extra man for us though. But I guess this is the new normal for now and we’ve just got to crack on.”