Coventry City boss Frank Lampard reveals two new injury doubts for Sunderland visit

Frank Lampard has issued a Coventry City injury update ahead of Sunderland's visit after two key players missed the defeat to Derby County on Tuesday night.

Striker Brandon Thomas-Asante and influential midfielder Ben Sheaf were absent as the Sky Blues fell to a 2-0 defeat, ending their impressive winning run that he has seen them surge into the play-off positions. Lampard hinted afterwards that both could be involved for the clash with Sunderland this weekend, but that they will have to be closely assessed in the days ahead.

“Brandon has got a bit of a problem that he’s been carrying for a while, in his pelvic area, which has been a bit sore this week," Lampard said.

“We’re having to manage his training a little bit but it got a little bit flared up this week, so that’s why he wasn’t there. Ben has had a little bit of an issue,” he said. “It isn’t the issue he had before but a different issue that ruled him out today. I won’t go into the details of it but hopefully he’ll be back very soon. We’ll see for the weekend.”

Midfielder Jack Rudoni, once a transfer target for the Black Cats, will miss the game with a shoulder injury. Coventry City are hopeful that he'll be fit to return for the run in after the upcoming international break.

Frank Lampard delivers verdict on Coventry City's defeat to Derby County

While disappointed to see his team's winning run come to a close at Derby, Lampard insisted he could not criticise his players for their efforts and is confident that they can bounce back.

"Not a terrible performance," Lampard said.

"It was a difficult game for us. Conceding the set-piece was an obvious disappointment for us because Derby are strong at them, a big team who play for them a lot, so I was disappointed with that.

“It wasn’t for the want of trying from the players. It was a tough pitch and the goal gave them something for them to hold onto. They are fighting. And off the back of the run we have been on, you have to understand that these nights can come. I think we have to be very balanced about that and as much as it’s not nice, it’s not realistic to keep winning, winning, winning. At a place like this they are very aggressive and the ball is in the air a lot and transitions are a big thing for them. You can lose it where you feel the players are not quite at it in terms of application but I didn’t feel that. From having control in the first 20 minutes the tide turned a bit with the goal. And then the start of the second half it was disappointing to make the foul, the cross comes in, corners and these things. They are not always easy to control when the ball is bouncing about and it keeps coming in your box a lot and things can drop to them, which they did.

“And after that we were pushing against a low block, and it was difficult for the players, to be fair.

“So my first thought is the reaction for Saturday coming," he added.

"There are obviously things we want to do better but, again, we have to be realistic in the big scheme of things from where we were to where we are now is a big, big positive. And one negative result, I am certainly not going to sit here and criticise the group because they are the reason why we have had this amazing run. And we’ll just have to go again.”

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