Luke O'Nien will miss Sunderland's trip to Birmingham City after picking up his fifth booking of the season. The versatile 27-year-old, who has spent much of this season playing at either right-back or centre-back, has had to tread carefully after racking up four bookings by the end of August.
Today's game against Cardiff City at the Stadium of Light represented the cut-off point for five bookings this season, and had he got through the match without a caution he would have been able to relax. But instead O'Nien was booked in injury time at the end of the first half for a foul on Callum O'Dowda.
He will now serve a mandatory one-match ban, ruling him out of Sunderland's trip to St Andrew's on Friday, which is the final game before the Championship season is paused while the early stages of the World Cup take place in Qatar. Following the 1-0 defeat against the Bluebirds, Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray said: "He's had five yellow cards and he's going to miss a game.
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"It's an opportunity for somebody else - we've got Trai Hume sitting on the bench. We'll just get on with it really."
Midfielder Alex Pritchard and defender Dennis Cirkin were also on four bookings going into the Cardiff game but they stayed clear of trouble, and with the cut-off point having now passed, they will not be suspended if they receive a fifth caution from here on in.
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