Lee Johnson has dangled the carrot of a Wembley appearance in front of Sunderland’s youngsters with the EFL Trophy final now on the horizon.
The Black Cats take on League Two Tranmere Rovers in the final of the competition under the arch a week on Sunday.
And with Sunderland hit by a series of injuries to players including Jordan Willis, Grant Leadbitter, Conor McLaughlin, and Denver Hume, and with Lynden Gooch and Bailey Wright also nursing knocks which may make them doubts for the final, there will be places to fill in the squad.
Add in the fact that Johnson will also be unable to field the cup-tied trio of Dion Sanderson, Carl Winchester and Jake Vokins, and the chance is there for youngsters to step up.
Johnson said: “I told the U23s the other day that I had picked my team for Wembley and there are four spots available and if that’s not a carrot for them, I don’t know what is.
“But, other than that, we haven’t even mentioned Wembley [to the players] to be honest.
“That’s just the way it is. There’s so much work on in terms of preparing correctly for the next game.
“You can’t cut corners, this is relentless for the manager, for the analyst, for the opposition scout, for the players, for the physio, and the good thing is we’re winning games and therefore we’re enjoying it.
“It doesn’t become a slog, you’re energized by the three points.
“That’s what we need as much as possible.”
Sunderland’s win against Swindon lifted them up one place to fourth in the table, and cut the gap between themselves and the automatic promotion places to five points.
The Black Cats are back in action on Saturday, when Rochdale visit the Stadium of Light.
