ALEX NEIL admits Jermain Defoe’s “lack of match sharpness” is holding him back as he looks to spark his second spell as a Sunderland player into life, and concedes it will be difficult for the 39-year-old to make a major impact in the remaining two-and-a-half months of the season.

Defoe rejoined Sunderland amid a considerable fanfare on transfer-deadline day, despite former head coach Lee Johnson having expressed misgivings about his ability to hit the ground running after months of inactivity with Rangers.

The former England international played just nine minutes of football in the whole of the first half of the season at Ibrox, and has looked understandably rusty in his three substitute run-outs since re-signing for Sunderland.

He is yet to start a game in his second spell on Wearside, a statistic that is unlikely to change when the Black Cats host promotion rivals MK Dons at the Stadium of Light tomorrow afternoon, and with just 14 more games to go, Neil accepts time is against the 39-year-old as he looks to make a more significant contribution.

“I think it’s probably frustrating for Jermain because he’s not come in at full fitness,” said the Sunderland boss. “What you need to bear in mind as well is his age. If you look at Jermain, he’s a fine specimen in terms of him being in good nick and naturally looking after himself. He’s not carrying an ounce of fat. But he’s not got any game sharpness.

“That’s not his fault – the simple fact is that he wasn’t playing football and he’s come in with really, really limited game time, and we’ve got really, really limited time between now and the end of the season.

"If it was the start of pre-season, we could get the bulk of work into him to get him to a good pace. At the moment, he’s playing catch-up, and we’re running out of games rapidly.

“It’s really difficult for him to him to come in and show what we know he’s always been capable of over the course of his career. He’s not getting any younger, and at the moment, that match sharpness is difficult for him because he’s not been playing.”

While Defoe is unlikely to start tomorrow afternoon’s game against an MK Dons side that have lost just one of their last nine league matches, Danny Batth should be available to return to the starting line-up after recovering from the ankle issue that kept him out of last weekend’s draw at AFC Wimbledon and Lynden Gooch also has a chance of being passed fit.

“Danny has been joining in (training) this week, for the last couple of days,” said Neil. “Goochy, I’m not sure if he’s going to make it, he’s touch and go at the moment.”

Neil is also having to contend with a number of long-term absences, with Luke O’Nien, Aiden McGeady and Nathan Broadhead all recovering from injuries that have kept them on the sidelines since at least mid-December.

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The trio have all stepped up their recovery programmes in the last couple of weeks – Broadhead is under the care of his permanent employers, Everton – but Neil does not anticipate having them available until the start of next month at the earliest.

“Luke’s doing non-contact stuff at the moment, but is on the grass,” he said. “Aiden’s been on the grass, but because it’s a medial-type injury, what happens with it is that it niggles and lingers on a little bit. It’s not one of those where when it’s healed, it’s gone. We’re in that niggly period between getting fully fit and being able to play, that’s where he is.

“Nathan Broadhead is back at Everton getting treatment on his hamstring, but I’m led to believe he’s on the grass as well and making good progress. Unfortunately, though, they’ll be weeks away rather than days.”

Having had a full week in which to work with his players, Neil is expecting an improved performance from last week’s display at Plough Lane. However, he also admits he is not yet at a stage where he can be confident about exactly what his players will serve up.

“MK Dons are settled in their methods, whereas a lot of our methods are still relatively new to a lot of our players,” he said. “At the moment, that creates a level of uncertainty that probably doesn’t sit easily with me.

“The best feeling as a manager is going into each game understanding and knowing what you’re going to get. Unfortunately, at this moment in time, we’re not in that position because we haven’t worked together for long enough.

“But what we do have is good players, and I’m hoping we can take all the information we’ve been giving them, and what they’ve replicated this week in training, into the game.

"We want an immediate impact, and to try to get results as quickly as we can. Obviously, with a club the size of Sunderland, we want to try to get out of League One as quickly as we possibly can."

Sunderland (probable, 4-3-3): Patterson; Hume, Batth, Doyle, Cirkin; Neil, Evans, Matete; Clarke, Stewart, Pritchard.