Niall Huggins' latest Sunderland injury setback explained as ex-Leeds United man is withdrawn from U21s match

The 22-year-old full-back returned from a long-term injury at the end of last year and has been carefully managed back following multiple setbacks.

Huggins, who joined Sunderland from Leeds in 2021, was set to play for the Black Cats’ under-21s side against Forest at Eppleton, before tweaking his hamstring in the warm-up and being replaced in the starting XI.

“Niall is ok, we are just making sure that we manage his load,” Murty told the Echo after his side’s 3-1 win over Forest.

“It’s our decision that we’ve taken him out as a precaution to make sure that he doesn’t overextend himself.

“We’ve made the decision earlier on that we weren’t going to risk him and we took him out of it.

“He just feels tired from the work he’s done, and rather than put him at risk on a heavy pitch we’ve decided as a staff that it’s not right for him and we’ve taken him out.

“Obviously we want first-team players to come with us, we want first-team players to show the pathway as it stands, but we want to make sure we return them to the first team in full working order.

“I have to say he was good about it, and the first-team players that came in and did play I thought were excellent.”

Dennis Cirkin, who has recently recovered from a concussion injury, and January signing Joe Anderson both played 90 minutes in the win over Forest, with Tom Watson, Ellis Taylor and Ben Middlemas getting on the scoresheet for the young Black Cats.

“Joe and Dennis got another 90 minutes and really bought into what we did this week and have been brilliant with the players I have to say,” Murty added.

“Both are really positive people around the group and I’m really pleased for them to get through another 90 minutes.”

Sunderland’s final under-21s game of the season will come later this month when they’ll face West Brom away from home on Monday, April 17.