Mike Dodds reveals yet another Sunderland injury blow and gives Dan Ballard update

Mike Dodds has revealed that Sunderland have suffered yet another injury blow after Nazariy Rusyn was ruled out of QPR's visit to the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

Dodds has added that Dan Ballard may yet be able to feature in the game, with the hamstring issue he picked up against Southampton not as bad as first feared. The interim head coach says he will give Ballard every chance to prove his fitness for the game, after Jenson Seelt was ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Dodds does not yet at this stage know how long Rusyn will be absent for, with the forward set to see a specialist over the international break.

"Naz picked up a knock during the game," Dodds said.

"He won’t be available for tomorrow. We are waiting for people who are a lot more qualified in terms than I am for a timeframe on that. He could be back next week or it could be longer.”

Ballard has not trained this week but Dodds is hopeful he yet may be able to feature: “Dan’s injury is not as bad as first feared. He’s been wrapped up in cotton wool all week. It’s a real difficult one. I think what we’re going to do is leave it until the very last minute, just based purely on our circumstances at the moment, with the number of injuries and how severely light we are.

“He felt a tweak to his hamstring. He tried to carry on – he didn’t throw the towel in – but when he ran back on, he said he could still feel it. Initially, I feared the worst, but it’s settled down this week and he seems fairly positive.

“We’ll leave it to the last minute in terms of making the decision on whether he’s fit or not, and whether we take the risk. There’s a few moving parts to that one. Ultimately, if we had a fully-fit cohort, we maybe wouldn’t take the risk. But with the situation we’re in at the moment, we’ll give him every opportunity to be fit.”

Seelt will be assessed over the next fortnight to see if he requires surgery. If he does not then he should be able to return for pre-season, but if he does then he is facing an extended spell on the sidelines.

“Jenson played 90 minutes and was fine, with no worries or concerns,” said Dodds.

“He then woke up the next morning and his knee had completely swollen up. He went to see a specialist and they’re still not sure on the timeframe, but his season is finished.

“They’re going to make a decision in the next 14 days in terms of how they’re going to go about his treatment. The specialist has confirmed it’s his season done, but we’re hoping for positive news in the next 14 days in terms of him being back for pre-season. But the worst-case scenario would be a considerable amount of time out.”