Jack Ross says Aiden McGeady’s foot injury is not a major concern despite Sunderland’s star man missing two games this week.
McGeady suffered the injury in the Black Cats’ draw at Bolton Wanderers last weekend, and it ruled him out of the midweek Carabao Cup win at Sheffield United and today’s league win over MK Dons.
The Republic of Ireland international broke a bone in his foot in April which affected him in the run-in last season, but Ross insists this latest injury is nowhere near as serious.
“Aiden picked up a foot injury in a similar area [to last season] against Bolton, but it is nowhere near as worrying as the one he got last season,” said Ross.
“He’s improved quite a lot this week and he will hopefully improve further next week.”
While McGeady missed out against the Dons, Ross was delighted with the performances of Joel Lynch and Laurens De Bock who played their first league games for the club after making their debuts in the cup.
Ross said: “I said post-match on Wednesday that they had had effectively no pre-season so to give them what amounts to a pre-season in and amongst all our games has not been easy.
“You have to throw them in at some point and Wednesday allowed us to do that, and their performances dictated that they stayed in the team on merit, but it was going to be a big ask for them fitness-wise.
“Laurens managed an hour, and it was testament to Joel’s conditioning that he managed to get through the whole game.
“They gave us a really good balance within our defensive unit, and across the piece we defended really well today - although the goal was frustrating because it was pretty soft.”
