Parkinson’s relief as stars return to ease club’s injury problem
WILLIS, FLANAGAN AND HUME ALL IN CONTENTION TO PLAY AGAINST RIVALS POMPEY IN KEY MATCHUP
PHIL Parkinson has spoken of his relief as Sunderland’s defensive injury crisis eased this week.
The Black Cats boss has had to rejig his back line in the last two games as injuries to Jordan Willis, Tom Flanagan, and Denver Hume – along with long-term injuries to Arbenit Xhemajli and Morgan Feeney – stretched his squad to breaking point.
But there was positive news ahead of the midweek win against Crewe with an X-ray revealing that Willis had suffered severe bruising to his foot rather than a break, and then an MRI scan on Flanagan’s ankle showed no serious problem which meant he even figured as a late sub against the Railwaymen.
The knee injury which kept Hume out of last weekend’s game at Swindon Town cleared up in time for him to start and complete the full 90 minutes on Tuesday night.
Willis has continued to improve this week and could be in contention to figure against Portsmouth today, while Flanagan and Hume have both trained as normal and will be available.
“On Sunday, I was counting up all the defenders that I was expecting to be without on the Tuesday night against Crewe and it was a worry, but thankfully Jordan Willis’ injury wasn’t as bad as we feared and it was the same with Tom,” said Parkinson.
“Jordan had the foot problem which initially Brandy [physio Pete Brand] was worried about, but it settled down quickly and we had no need to rush him back quickly.
“Tom had had a problem with his ankle when he was away [with Northern Ireland] and by the time he came back it had swelled up quite significantly.”
He added: “We sent him for a scan and we wanted him to see an ankle specialist, and we could only book him in on Monday night.
“But the specialist looked at the scan and said he felt it was just bone bruising that was causing the discomfort, and he felt that as long as Tom was happy to carry on, he would be all right.
“Sometimes you have to have the mental toughness.”
On-loan defender Dion Sanderson was not ready to play against Crewe after missing some training with parent club Wolves due to a groin problem, but he has been integrated into the squad this week.
Meanwhile, midfielder Elliot Embleton is set to make his comeback from injury for the U23s at Fulham on Monday.