Phil Smith has revealed that Sunderland duo Ross Stewart and Dan Ballard will soon be returning for Sunderland after speaking to Tony Mowbray.
Sunderland made a winning return to Championship action on Saturday afternoon as they picked up three points as well as scoring three goals in front of a jam-packed Stadium of Light thanks to goals from Ellis Simms, Alex Pritchard and Amad Diallo.
The Black Cats have had a pretty good season back in England’s second tier sitting just one point off the play-off spots and now they are seemingly set to receive a major boost with Stewart and Ballard nearing their returns.
Smith has spoken on the Sunderland Echo’s YouTube channel about how Mowbray confirmed post-match that Stewart and Ballard are now close to a first-team return, with the former closer.
“To add to the good news as well, Mowbray just gave us an update and Ross Stewart is going to be back for the West Brom game all being well he also said that Dan Ballard won’t be too far behind so it looks like we might see Ballard in those Christmas games.”
Should Stewart start vs West Brom?
Yes!
No!
TIF Thoughts on Stewart and Ballard returning…
While Simms does indeed have two goals in his last two games, to have Stewart back and fit will be huge for Sunderland and Mowbray as he’s been their reliable goal scorer since the start of last season.
The Scotland international has five goals to his name this season which is his first campaign at this level, so having him back to lead their line is only going to be good news for their play-off push this season.
While Ballard isn’t as close to returning as Stewart is, the fact that Mowbray brought him up does indeed suggest he’s getting closer and should be able to play during what will be a hectic fixture schedule for the Black Cats.