Sunderland will find out in the next few days whether Dennis Cirkin has a chance of playing in the Saturday's crunch game at Morecambe. The Black Cats head into the final weekend of the campaign knowing that last night's last-gasp draw against Rotherham at the Stadium of Light means that a win on the final day at Morecambe will guarantee a play-off place.
But Sunderland have been hit by key defensive injuries in recent weeks, with Cirkin missing the last two games and Carl Winchester limping out of the weekend 5-1 win against Cambridge with a groin problem. Neil has not ruled Cirkin out of Saturday's trip to the Lancashire coast, but is still waiting to find out if he will be fit to be involved.
Winchester is likely to be out for longer, and the club is waiting for the result of scans on his injury to determine the extent of the problem. "Dennis, we're hopeful won't be out for too long and we'll find out in the next couple of days whether he has a chance or not," said Neil.
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"Winnie, we're waiting on getting the scans back."
Sunderland's first-teamers were given the day off today but Neil will start his advance planning for the game at Morecambe. He said: "The lads will have the day off today, and I'll start the preparations for Morecambe.
"They will be back in for a session on Thursday, then on Friday we'll do a prep day for the game. I probably watch four or five of the opposition's games before we play them, just to make sure we have ticked all the boxes.
"The analysis lads will do their own stuff, I'll watch it with them and we'll break it down and get to the point where we find the best plan of attack."
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