Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray gives this update on concerning Ross Stewart and Dennis Cirkin injuries

Stewart had to withdraw from the starting XI after injuring his thigh in the late stages of the warm-up, and will now be scanned to assess the severity of the damage.

"He was shooting in the warm up, he's popped a muscle in his thigh," Mowbray said.

"It seems a very isolated spot so whether it's a tear in the upper thigh where he's struck the ball... I can't tell you anymore at the moment, it needs a scan.

"It'll either come back grade one, two or three and it's two weeks, four weeks or eight weeks. We'll just have to wait and see."

Sunderland fell to a 1-0 defeat after Riley McGree's first half goal, and Mowbray felt that Stewart's injury had a major impact on the way the first half in particular played out.

"The fact that we lost Ross right at the end of the warm-up... we had to try and readjust everything we'd worked on for two days in a two or three-minute chat," Mowbray said.

"If you're playing Patrick Roberts instead of Ross Stewart it's a totally different game plan, you have to play through the lines and get it to his feet. Ross is going to be running in behind, threatening the space.

"You're asking the lads to almost forget about what we've talked about for two or three days, it's not meant to be an excuse, it's just the reality that you've lost your talisman who has been a threat in every game.

"It's frustrating for us, I think we had enough opportunities to get the ball in the net."

Sunderland are also facing an anxious wait to learn how serious a hamstring injury that Dennis Cirkin suffered in the second half is.

"Dennis has injured his hamstring, it would suggest it's a fatigue injury with the repetition of games he's played," Mowbray said.

"We don't know yet the severity of it, he looks like he's tweaked his hamstring but we'll have to see how bad it is."