'That kept us together': Josh Scowen reveals the key to squad unity during Sunderland's COVID outbreak

The Black Cats were forced to postpone their scheduled festive fixtures after 14 players tested positive for coronavirus.

That outbreak saw the Academy of Light closed for ten days, leaving players to train at home.

And while Scowen admits it was a difficult time for the squad, he was quick to praise the inventiveness of club staff – who laid on a host of virtual sessions for the playing staff.

It also presented new head coach Lee Johnson with a chance to further communicate his tactical ideas, which has left Scowen enthused for the future.

Reflecting on the outbreak, Scowen said: “It was hard.

"Obviously with it being over Christmas, that was hard as well.

"Luckily we had the Zoom meetings and most the boys were able to do the sessions on there, so that kept us together during that time.

"We had a lot of Zoom meetings - some training, some tactical - over the break when we weren't in training.

"He [Johnson] was telling us what to do and it was really good, hopefully that continues.”

Speaking about the temporary switch to virtual training in December, Johnson said: “We've had to give them online sessions to do on zoom, which has been interesting and actually really good.

"But we've also done a lot of tactical work online as well, presented some slides just to see what their understanding is of the terminology and what we're trying to coach.”

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