Alex Neil is keeping his fingers crossed that Dennis Cirkin can play a part in Sunderland's play-off semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday to ease the Black Cats' defensive injury problems. Cirkin was again absent with a calf injury as Sunderland booked their place in the play-offs with a 1-0 win at Morecambe yesterday.
There are no guarantees that Cirkin will be ready to return whenn the Black Cats take on the Owls in the first leg at the Stadium of Light on Friday night, but nor did Neil rule him out. "I would hope so," said Neil when asked if Cirkin could be involved, "but I can't really commit to anything right now - I don't know what the answer is.
"Let's say he has a chance, it's not one of those where we can just say he's out."
READ MORE: Sunderland got the job done 'in comfort' says Alex Neil, as Black Cats book play-off place
The trip to Morecambe was the third game in row that Cirkin has sat out, and on-loan Manchester City defender Callum Doyle was also missing due to injury at the Mazuma Stadium, as was groin injury victim Carl Winchester with the latter already ruled out by Neil for 'weeks rather than days'. Neil said: "Callum missed out with an injury, hopefully it's not a serious one.
"I don't think it's too serious. We had a fitness test yesterday and he went out to try it to see if he could train for the game today but unfortunately he couldn't make it."
With those three players, all of whom can play on the left side of the back three, Neil had to rejig his team at Morecambe, with the versatile Luke O'Nien dropping back from midfield to fill the defensive gap. Neil explained: "It was a particular type of job today, but I'm sure some people will be wondering why we played a midfielder as a left-sided centre-back.
"If you look at the lad [Morecambe wideman Dylan] Connolly, his biggest attribute is his pace and he wants to get in behind - he sucks people under the ball and then tries to use his pace in behind. From the players we had available, Luke has the best tools to deal with that.
"We went into the game with a lot of players missing, a lot of players unavailable for a variety of reasons, and we managed to put a team together that got the job done so credit to the lads for that, and to Luke for doing what we needed him to."
To add to Neil's problems, striker Nathan Broadhead also limped out of the win against Morecambe after scoring the decisive goal.
Sunderland's win meant they secured a play-off place under their own steam, without having to rely on results elsewhere. It extended their unbeaten run to 13 games, which will see them go into the play-offs in good form.
"I'm really pleased with what the players have done," said Neil of his 15 games in charge.
"I think we've done really well - what is it, one in 15 we have lost? - and that one [the 1-0 home defeat against MK Dons in February] still bugs me, if I'm honest! All we've done, though, is clear the first hurdle.
"We are in the play-offs now and we have work to do."
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