Two Sunderland youngsters look set to be snubbed by Mike Dodds ahead of tonight’s meeting with Leeds United.
Sunderland are heading into the final five games of the campaign, with nothing to play for but pride.
The Black Cats have endured a disastrous second half of the season, which has seen them through away their chances of consecutive play-offs and now currently sit in 13th place.
With only one win in their last ten games, many supporters have urged Mike Dodds to change up the team and started giving different players a chance in the starting line-up.
After a handful of cameos, Chris Rigg was the first to be brought into the fold and has since really impressed, arguably being one of Sunderland’s best players in recent weeks.
It was expected that Dodds could hand several more youngsters a chance in the match-day squad, with the interim head coach recently admitting that Tommy Watson had done ‘really, really well’ in training and that he would ‘come into our thinking’ before the end of the campaign.
Another name who has received high praise with the U23s is Harrison Jones, who has been captaining the youth side and picked up a brace and an assist in a recent win over Leicester City.
Sunderland duo now unlikely to be in the match-day squad
While it was believed that the likes of these two could be promoted to the first team, journalist James Copley is now pretty certain that that opportunity won’t be coming tonight.
After the pair were named in the U21s’ starting line-up against Wolves last night, Copley wrote on X: “Great news that Adam Richardson is back after an injury! Inclusion of Watson and Jones suggests they won’t make Mike Dodds’ squad for the Leeds United game but you never know.”
Watson put on an ‘outstanding’ performance as he netted his seventh goal in 13 games, with Copley adding that the youngster is ‘firmly knocking on the door’.
Watson should take the place of struggling 20-year-old
Both Watson and Jones have only been named on the bench twice this season, while the latter is yet to make his senior debut.
Mike Dodds has insisted that he wants to win these final games rather than just using it as an opportunity to give youngsters a chance.
It’s completely understandable why he won’t just throw them straight into the starting line-up, but surely naming them on the bench over someone like Mason Burstow would be much more beneficial.
The striker will return to Chelsea this summer and has been poor all season, while he didn’t even feature in the draw with Bristol City.
I would much rather see Watson earn himself a spot in the dugout to get him some vital experience, than someone who will probably just be on loan at another Championship club in a few months time.