'Eight or nine injured, a few ill, players on bench who weren't really available'

A number of Sunderland players had to battle through illness to help Sunderland earn a point at Blackpool, Tony Mowbray has confirmed.

Sunderland started the game at Bloomfield Road incredibly sluggishly and fell behind to a Shayne Lavery goal midway through the first half.

The Black Cats went into the fixture already down to the bare bones due to an injury crisis that left ‘eight or nine’ players unavailable.

The situation got even more desperate following the win at Wigan, when the Sunderland camp were hit by a bout of illness.

That saw 15-year-old Chris Rigg named on the bench along side players ‘who were not really available,’ while others had to play after being in bed with illness just a day before.

"We've had a lot of illness in the camp and maybe that was partly why we started slowly,” Mowbray explained after Ross Stewart's second-half goal earned Sunderland a point.

“Our first day of training after Wigan I think there were only six who trained, and then 11 or 12 the next day. A few of the lads who played this afternoon have been in their beds the last couple of days with illness.

"We've also got eight or nine injured who would have been strong contenders to start the game.

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"The numbers were getting really short, Luke O'Nien wasn't expected to play until this morning when he said that he didn't feel as bad and that he could give it a go.

"Corry Evans sat on the bench but he wasn't really available. It's great credit to the team that we put out today that they're leaving really, really disappointed that they didn't win.

“We had some big footballers not available and yet they still showed we can give teams more than a good football match."

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