Injury-jinxed Watmore will come back even stronger

How unlucky is Duncan Watmore? After two serious knee injuries, just when he must have thought he was owed a long overdue period of good luck, his injury jinx strikes again.

At least his latest injury isn’t his knee, it’s a completely different injury unrelated to his previous two and so that’s something to be thankful for.

I’m not sure if Duncan himself feels that way though, he must have been asking the question, ‘why me?’

But he seems to be level headed and mentally strong and I’m backing him to come back stronger than ever next season with the benefits of a full pre-season behind him.

His injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for Jack Ross, with promotion in the balance and an incredibly busy April coming up.

The manager will need to utilise all his squad and not having Duncan available will be a huge blow for him.

Watmore will miss a trip to Wembley as well and that must be so frustrating, watching his team-mates getting suited and booted for the big day while he misses out, knowing he should be part of what hopefully is a glorious day.

The treatment room must feel like a prison to him, just when he thought he’d seen the back of it, he’s back in there, but I’m sure all the medical staff at the club will be doing everything in their power to lift his spirits.

Since his latest comeback, Ross has handled him with kid gloves with the occasional start, but mainly as an impact sub and that’s something he’s so good at.

Not every player can come off the bench and make an instant impact, but Watmore can, as he’s proved many times before, not least his last game at Wycombe.

That’s what Sunderland have been denied if he is out for the rest of the season, a genuine threat from the bench, someone with pace that can take defenders out of the game and turn it on its head until a late reckless challenge has sidelined him again.

At least virtually his last kick before his latest injury was a goal that rescued a point for Sunderland, and at the end of this long gruelling campaign, who knows how valuable that point might turn out to be.