Jack Ross is hoping to have Aiden McGeady and Marc McNulty back available this weekend.
Sunderland travel to Lincoln City in search of a third straight win in all competitions.
McGeady has missed the Black Cats’ last two games while McNulty, who has scored in each of his last two appearances, hasn’t featured since the Lads’ home game with Rotherham United.
But the pair returned to training on Thursday, and are now in contention to feature on Saturday when the Lads travel to Sincil Bank.
“Aiden and Marc both trained today, so we'll see how they react to the training session today and then decide over the course of tomorrow what their involvement will be over the weekend,” he said.
“They'll make up part of the squad if there's no reaction to today to what happened on the training pitch.
"It was nice to have them back on the training pitch but it’s just about assessing how they respond.
“Marc and Aiden are both good players who've had good seasons to date, so I'd rather have them back sooner rather than later,” he continued.
“But with the other players in reasonable form themselves it certainly lessens that need to rush them back too quickly.”
