Jack Ross reveals how Sunderland will manage Will Grigg's ankle injury as Cats handed defensive injury blow

JacK Ross has a plan in place to nurse Will Grigg through an ankle issue - with the striker viewed as a potential doubt before the trip to Accrington.
Jack Ross has a plan in place to manage Will Grigg's ankle injury at SunderlandJack Ross has a plan in place to manage Will Grigg's ankle injury at Sunderland
Jack Ross has a plan in place to manage Will Grigg's ankle injury at Sunderland

The Northern Irish international picked up an ankle injury ahead of his move to the Stadium of Light in January and has been nursed through the Black Cats' recent fixtures.

Grigg completed 77 minutes during Sunday's Checkatrade Trophy final and could be forced to sit out the visit to the Wham Stadium, with Ross set to monitor the striker and several other players over the 24 hours.

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And with the 27-year-old having scarcely trained in recent weeks, Ross has a plan in place to manage the injury and ensure the frontman can play his part in the Black Cats' promotion push - with options in the forward areas somewhat limited.

"It's a combination between the ankle and general fitness because, as I commented post-match, he's hardly training at the moment," said Ross.

"That isn't ideal for any player, so we have to try and nurse him through both training and games.

"Every time he does play a game and get through minutes hopefully that does strengthen his ability to play games at the end of the season.

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"We have to look after him properly because, even in Sunday's squad, we only had the two out-and-out strikers in the squad because Kaz Sterling was ineligible.

"Having Kaz back tomorrow night strengthens our options as well."

And the Sunderland boss has been dealt a fresh injury blow after Adam Matthews suffered a recurrence of his hamstring injury in the build-up to the trip to Wembley.

The full-back will certainly miss out on the trip to Accrington, while Ross admits there are several players rated as doubtful ahead of the trip to the North West.

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"Adam Matthews remains out and obviously didn't make Sunday," added the Sunderland boss.

"He actually had a recurrence of his hamstring injury on Friday. We actually thought he was going to be fit for Sunday but then had a recurrence in training.

"Duncan [Watmore] and Chris [Maguire] remain out and Donald Love is still working his way back towards fitness.

"We have doubts over a few more, but we'll allow ourselves another 24 hours to assess them."