Stephen Elliott: This is why Lee Johnson should name a strong Sunderland XI against Lincoln City

Sunderland return to action against Lincoln City this evening, fresh from the heavy defeat at Portsmouth.
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On a normal basis I’d imagine Lee Johnson would contemplate resting a few bodies and giving some players that haven’t had loads of game time some minutes on the pitch on Tuesday against Lincoln City in the Football League Trophy fixture.

However, with there being a two-week break with the international call ups, I think he definitely should consider going as strong as he can.

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Losing to a promotional rival will have hurt the players – and the supporters especially - by such a big score.

Corry Evans in action for Sunderland against Portsmouth. Picture by FRANK REID.Corry Evans in action for Sunderland against Portsmouth. Picture by FRANK REID.
Corry Evans in action for Sunderland against Portsmouth. Picture by FRANK REID.

For that reason I feel Johnson should treat this Lincoln game as a league game and try to put his strongest available team out.

Winning is a habit but losing is also and if he doesn’t win this game then that would be two defeats to sit and dwell on during the break.

That for me would be a bad thing.

I’d take the game to Lincoln with Ross Stewart leading the line.

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It’s a game that isn’t hugely important in the bigger picture but if it ended in defeat then it could cause more damage than what a ‘usual’ Football League Trophy game loss would, given when the fixture falls.

It will be interesting to see what the manager does.

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