Jack Ross explains how he'll approach Sunderland selection for Accrington cup clash

The Black Cats have five fixtures before the month is out and so Ross has signalled his intent to rotate.

That is likely to grant opportunities to the likes of club captain Grant Leadbitter and centre-back Alim Ozturk.

“For us, like a lot of teams, we have a borderline ridiculously busy month of the season,” he said.

“We’ll use our squad on Tuesday because we have a really big league game coming up on Saturday.

“I’m not sure where we’re at in terms of bumps and bruises as I’ve just come out the changing room, we’ll have a couple that will benefit from playing too.

“We’ll freshen it up on Tuesday and that will give some a opportunity, because while I was pleased with the second half I wasn’t with the first.”

Sunderland battled back from that dire first half to win a point at Portman Road but Ross’ disappointment with the opening 45 was visible.

“I think after every game you have a lot to digest,” he said.

“The game today, because we didn’t do the fundamentals so you have to question the system.

“We did change it in the first half, it helped us a bit but not a lot because we weren’t doing the basics. Second half we were a lot more comfortable.

“I spoke in pre-season about early games giving players the chance to take possession of the jersey but they then have to reach certain levels to keep that.

“If they don’t there’s enough competition that they won’t keep their place. It’s a harsh lesson.”

Speaking last Thursday, Ross said that the cup clash should give Max Power the chance to play his first competitive minutes of the season.

Charlie Wyke could also feature after an ankle problem.

“Charlie is not far away really, I’m actually hoping he might be available for Accrington on Tuesday,” Ross said.

“With Max, he missed a really good chunk of pre-season so we’d always kind of pencilled in Accrington.

“He’s getting there.”