Sunderland 'are tired in body and mind,' admits defender

Dan Ballard says Sunderland are ‘tired in body and mind’ right now after a frantic schedule in the Championship.

Sunderland have played five games in the last 15 games, with the latest of them ending in a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Bristol City.

The Black Cats struggled to get going in the game but looked to have won it courtesy of a brilliant Jack Clarke goal, but an injury-time penalty allowed Nahki Wells to snatch a point for the visitors.

Asked if fatigue played a part in Sunderland struggling to find their best form against Bristol City, Ballard told safc.com: “Yeah I think it does take a toll on the players like the first half today.

“There can be spells when we’re a bit flat but we recognised that at half time and the lads have got to give a little bit more.

“But it’s hard when the bodies and minds are tired but that’s why we made a few changes in the week and we’ll probably do the same again this week so it’s about the whole squad.”

Sunderland will hit the road again on Tuesday when they go to relegation battlers Rotherham United.

Fatigue will likely be a consideration again in Mowbray’s team selection, although Ballard thinks they side my be better suited to playing away from home at the moment.

“We’ve probably been even better away from home so we’re going to be going there looking to win the game as we have done for a lot of the games recently.

"It’s going to be a tough one but we’re going to have to bring maximum effort again like we did against QPR and hopefully we can get a result.”

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