More than 3,000 Sunderland fans turned out at the Stadium of Light to watch an Easter open training session this morning. After last Friday's goalless draw at runaway Championship leaders Burnley, Tony Mowbray's men were preparing for this Friday's home game against Hull City.
The players took to the pitch at 10.30am for a 75-minute session played out in glorious sunshine on Wearside. And after the session finished, the squad split into groups, signing autographs and posing for selfies with young supporters pitchside.
Here our Sunderland AFC writer James Hunter picks out some of the highlights of the open training session.
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Numbers game
Sunderland's squad has been severely depleted by injuries, and that was evident with only 14 outfielders taking part in today's session - and that included U21 winger Michael Spellman.
The injury list includes Ross Stewart (Achilles), Corry Evans (cruciate ligament), Aji Alese (thigh), Jewison Bennette (dislocated shoulder), and Elliot Embleton (broken ankle).
It is also worth pointing out that Sunderland's U21s have a game against Nottingham Forest at Eppleton tonight, and first-team squad members such as Niall Huggins and Joe Anderson are likely to feature in that match and were therefore unavailable for training today.
Also absent
Alex Pritchard and Dennis Cirkin did not take part in today's session, despite both players being involved in the game at Burnley.
Midfielder Pritchard played 75 minutes at Turf Moor before coming off, but had not shown any signs of injury. And left-back Cirkin came on for the final two minutes in his first outing since recovering from the after-effects of concussion.
Cirkin could potentially be involved in tonight's U21 game as he looks to build his match fitness. Pritchard was at the Stadium of Light and came out to sign autgraphs after the session.
International return
Amad, Edouard Michut, and Abdoullah Ba were all left out of the starting XI at Burnley after being involved in international fixtures during the break, with the former playing for the Ivory Coast in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers while the latter duo were part of the France U19 side that played in friendlies in Spain.
They returned on Thursday and had limited - if any - opportunity to train with the teammates ahead of the game at Turf Moor, hence they were restricted to being involved from the bench.
But all three were back in full training today, and will be available for Friday's game against the Tigers.
Watching on
Skipper Evans' season-ending injury in January was a major blow, with the experienced Northern Ireland international an influential member of the side.
But while he is still some way from a return, he is still contributing off-the-pitch and he was watching the session from the mouth of the tunnel.
Ross Stewart
Stewart was at the Stadium of Light and, while he is still limping following his Achilles surgery and unable to get out on the grass, he came out to sign autographs at the end of the session.
Sporting director Kristjaan Speakman could only watch on, and hope that he can convince the Scotland international striker to sign an altogether more important piece of paper as Stewart prepares to enter the final year of his contract.
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