DUNCAN WATMORE will not be involved in Sunderland’s home game with Accrington Stanley tomorrow as the Black Cats’ medical staff continue to carefully manage his workload.

Watmore was Sunderland’s best player as they drew 1-1 with Blackpool on Tuesday night, with the winger completing his first full 90 minutes of league action since 2016.

Successive cruciate knee ligament injuries have wrecked his career in the last two-and-a-half years, so while Jack Ross is delighted to see the former England Under-21 international getting back to full speed, he does not want to risk jeopardising his recovery by pushing him too hard, too soon.

Watmore will not be considered for tomorrow night’s televised game at the Stadium of Light, but should be available for next Tuesday’s home game with Gillingham.

Ross said: “He won't be involved on Friday, which is a blow for us because his performance was so positive, but the reality of his recovery is that it's not possible for him to play two games in such quick succession.

“That won't be the case indefinitely, but when you're recovering from an ACL injury and you've had two in a short period of time, the recovery time between games has to be longer.

“It’s not me influencing Duncan in that respect, it’s more him influencing me. It’s what’s been in place for a while, and it’ll continue being in place until he gets past a certain landmark in his recovery and rehab.

“It’s been two serious injuries in a short period of time, and the risk of suffering another injury decreases as time goes on.

“Mentally, he was quite high after the game because he knew that was probably the best he’d been post-injury. It would be wrong to say that I didn’t have a wee go at seeing if he would be alright (to play on Friday), you’re always going to do that, but I’ve always known it was most likely this was going to be the case.”

Watmore played in something of a free-attacking role on Tuesday night, and while he spent the early part of his career playing as an out and out winger, Ross does not really see him as an orthodox wide man.

He said: “The other night, we asked to play in a half-and-half position, and that for me is probably his ideal role. I think he enjoys it the most as well.

“It’s been difficult for us to do that because of personnel and what we had available. The other night was the first time we’ve really been able to utilise him in the area of the pitch we thought would be the best for him.

“To his credit, the things we asked him to do from there, he did very well, and you could see how much he helped us.”

Reece James was forced to hobble out of the closing stages of Tuesday’s game, but there is a chance the full-back could recover in time to start against Accrington.

Ross said: “There are a couple of minor issues we have to continue to assess and make a decision on, but nothing major.”