Tony Mowbray is hopeful that Ellis Simms' toe injury does not turn out to be a broken bone. On-loan Everton striker Simms suffered the injury just before the half-hour mark in Sunderland's 3-0 win at Reading and tried to carry on, before eventually limping off around ten minutes before half-time.
With leading scorer Ross Stewart already ruled out for a minimum of six weeks with a torn thigh muscle, Simms was Sunderland's only remaining senior centre-forward and that meant his injury could be a major problem for Mowbray if it does sideline him for a period of time. For now, though, Mowbray is keeping his fingers crossed that it does not turn out to be too serious, and the club's medical staff will reassess the situation in the morning before deciding whether to send Simms for a scan.
"It's his big toe - it's the joint of his big toe," said Mowbray. "He was struggling to push off. His big toe is numb at the moment.
MATCH REPORT: Patrick Roberts leads the way as Sunderland make light of Ellis Simms injury to defeat Reading
"Whether we scan that tomorrow, or whether it settles down overnight, we'll have to wait and see. I don't think it's broken, maybe the joint has popped out or something.
"We need to let it settle down and then reassess it in the morning."
While Simms' injury was a setback, Sunderland found the perfect response with Patrick Roberts almost immediately scoring two goals in as many minutes to set the Black Cats on their way to victory. Jack Clarke added a third goal 20 minutes from time as Sunderland ended Reading's 100 percent home record, and in the process moved up to sixth place in the Championship.
Mowbray said: "It wasn't ideal [losing Simms], Ellis brings a level of physicality at set-pieces against us as well as giving us the opportunity to mess a few big centre-halves around at times. But I think we controlled the game with the ball, rather than with physicality.
"The team played well, and I'd spoken this week about players needing to step up and grasp the nettle, and Patrick Roberts did just that for us tonight. Jack Clarke as well - I haven't seen the third goal back yet, but what a goal it was."
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