Sunderland travel to Bristol Rovers in the Checkatrade Trophy Semi-Final Last time out Sunderland beat Plymouth and Bristol Rovers beat Blackpool. Sunderland face Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium in the semi-final of the Checkatrade Trophy. Chris Maguire and Bryan Oviedo remain unavailable due to injury. Jack Ross will want to progress to the final and he is likely to play his strongest side available. Alim Ozturk could feature if Flanagan has not recovered from a knee injury. Another player who will hope for an opportunity is Dylan McGeouch. The midfielder has struggled for game time of late, and the form of Grant Leadbitter has pushed him down the pecking order. He dropped out of the squad for Plymouth, but Ross confirmed that there were no injury issues. Rovers are fighting for their League One status but had a confidence boosting 4-0 win against Blackpool at the weekend. They will be looking to improve on the recent 2-0 League One defeat inflicted by the Black Cats. Jonson Clarke-Harris has a knock and is a major doubt after scoring a hat-trick on Saturday. Jack Ross "Jack's fully fit and has trained, the thing is, Alim constantly trains well and has done well every time he has had an opportunity.” "That competition for places has become more intense. "I had a good chat with Jack, I think it was a good decision to take him out of things for a couple of weeks and see how he reacts.” "Then we start looking at things on merit again. We just wanted to give him a breather both physically and mentally." Graham Coughlan “I am proud of the lads and proud of the way they reacted. That is what I was asking them for.” “I spoke to them on Monday about previous games, previous defeats and each and everyone of them reacted.” "Are we at that stage where we can go and compete with a team of that size, that ilk, that magnitude? We are probably not at this stage of the season. We have beaten Blackpool, who are flying, Terry and Brabs are doing a great job there, they are flying this season and fair play to them, but it is a different challenge taking on Sunderland.” "Can we beat a big club like that, I believe we can. The question is do the players believe it? Do the fans believe it? Do the club believe it? I would love us to be able to go out there on Tuesday night and put together back-to-back victories.” Form: Match Appointments: Referee: MICHAEL SALISBURY Assistant Referees: Matthew Lee and Darren Wilding Fourth Official: Lee Swabey Team Line ups Sunderland: McLaughlan, O’Nien, Flanagan, Dunne, James, Leadbitter, Cattermole, Honeyman, Morgan, Grigg, McGeady Subs: Ruiter, Matthews, Ozturk, Power, McGeouch, Watmore, Wyke Injured: Love, Loovens, Maguire, Oviedo Bristol Rovers: Bonham, Partington, Lockyer, Craig, Holmes-Dennis, Clarke, Sercombe, Upson, Ogogo, Clarke-Harris, Jakubiak Substitutes: Nichols, Lines, Reilly, Smith, Sinclair, Matthews, Kelly Injured: Rodman Betting Odds: H 21/10 A 13/10 D 9/4 My two pence: One game away from a trip to Wembley to meet Pompey, so I hope Jack will play his strongest team and go all out for the win. The Gas had a good 4-0 win against Blackpool on Saturday and will see this game as a great opportunity to save their disappointing season. I think we will continue our momentum and grind out a result. My guess is a hard fought 2-1 away win. If you can’t make the long trip to the game you can go to the Stadium of Light for the Live screening. The game will be shown live on Sky Sports Football. Ha’way the Lads
Ha'waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! Last time I saw us play BR was when they played in Bath, so this will make a nice change
Think Jack will make one of two changes to yesterdays line up purely to give his other squad players game time. I don't envy him as there's a Wembley final at risk and if he gets it wrong he could upset the fine balance we currently have for our remaining fixtures. Having said all that I think we're still capable of a 2-0 win whatever team we turn out.
I thought Sterling had been injured but maybe he's just not good enough. We've not done well with on loan strikers from higher leagues, Fletcher Sinclair and now possibly Sterling not being of any use.
Hmm. Weather forecast say it's going to piss down and I have tickets in the uncovered standing end...
I think power will start and probably Mumba. Grigg I’d definitely play but think there’ll be a few changes
-------------------- Ruiter ------------------- Matthews - Ozturk - Baldwin - James ------------ McGeouch - Power --------- Watmore ---- Honeyman --- McGeady ---------------- Grigg/Wyke ----------------- Subs Big John Dunne 09 Mumba Morgan Kimpioka Grigg/Wyke I think there'll be quite a few changes and the team will maybe look something like this.
After the precarious position the club was in it would be incredible to see the team coming onto the pitch at Wembley. Ross, Donald and Methven must be secretly desperate to see that happen in their first season. It would raise the profile of the club which would encourage sponsors, young supporters and potential signings. It may be a tinpot trophy but a Wembley weekend with Sunderland would be fantastic. Haway Sunderland, win the bloody thing!!!
Think Watmore's recovery programme prevents him from playing 2 games inside a week so I don;t think he will be involved after his cameo on Saturday Not sure mind
I'd rather keep him for Wycombe, young Morgan needs game time as he looked knackered after an hour on Saturday so I'd keep him in and change him again for Kimpi if he can't last 90 minutes.
No abandoned/postponed game though please ! we cannot play next Tuesday because the biggest game of the season takes place, but it will be tough and will Rovers play a full strength team ?.
