Phil Parkinson has admitted the early signs ‘do not look good’ for Bailey Wright after the defender went off with an ankle injury at Oxford United.
The Australian defender limped off after suffering ankle ligament damage in the second 45 of the Black Cats’ 1-0 win at the Kassam Stadium.
Alim Ozturk came on in his place to see the game out in the heart of the Lads’ backline, and helped Sunderland claim their seventh clean sheet in eight games.
Speaking about the injury post-match, Parkinson provided the outcome of the initial assessment.
“It doesn’t look good, that’s all I can say,” he said.
“Obviously it’s a bit early [to make an assessment] but it looks like quite a bad injury which is a blow, but Alim has come on and done well.”
“We made the change at Tranmere, but it was a tough call.
“Bailey has been excellent for us but if he is out for a period, Alim comes in and there’s no problem with that at all.
“Alim has a great personality, he is a great lad and while he has been out of the team he has trained well and that’s really important,” he continued.
“We have gone with the same team for quite a period of time now and sometimes it can be difficult to keep those other lads going but, as I keep saying, they have been outstanding and they have driven the other lads on.”
