Sunderland have postponed their league clash with Bristol Rovers due to international call-ups.
The Black Cats had been due to travel to the Memorial Stadium next Saturday (November 16), but made the decision to ask for the game to be rearranged owing to players away on international duty leaving their squad short of options.
Tom Flanagan and Conor McLaughlin have been called up to Northern Ireland's squad, Benji Kimpioka is in the Sweden under-21 squad, while, most importantly, goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin is in the Scotland squad.
That would have left Sunderland with no senior goalkeepers, with Lee Burge currently injured.
Conor McLaughlin will actually serve a one-match league suspension after collecting a fifth yellow card against Southend United. He will instead miss the Coventry home game which will take place on Saturday, November 23.
With Sunderland already falling behind in their fixtures having previously postponed games against Burton Albion and Fleetwood, some supporters are understandably concerned about falling behind a suffering a fixture pile-up, much like last term.
But Parkinson spoke earlier this week about the game postponement saying: “We have to wait and see who is called up officially. The problem we have is the goalkeeping situation, we have to assess Burgey.
“We don’t want to go into the game weakened and give them the advantage.”
As well as international call-ups, Sunderland currently have Lee Burge, Charlie Wyke, Alim Ozturk, Elliot Embleton and Lynden Gooch on the injury list.
A new date is yet to be announced, but any original tickets will remain valid for the rearranged date.
Elsewhere, Coventry are reportedly close to selling out their allocation for their trip to the Stadium of Light later this month.
Their allocation was reduced this term after crowd trouble marred last term's clash between the two sides on Wearside. The Coventry Telegraph say 1,120 of the 1,496 made available have been sold, with the remaining 376 expected to sell in the coming days.
