CARL WINCHESTER has returned to training – and is in contention to make a surprise return to action in Sunderland’s League One play-off final against Wycombe Wanderers.

Winchester has been sidelined since suffering a serious groin injury in April’s home victory over Cambridge United, and had been expected to miss the whole of the rest of the campaign.

However, while he was unable to feature in either leg of the semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday, he has been able to train this week and has put himself back in the frame for a place in Saturday’s matchday squad at Wembley.

While Lynden Gooch slotted in effectively at right-back in both legs of the semi-final, Winchester had been in excellent form in the full-back position prior to suffering his injury.

Sunderland head coach Alex Neil said: “Carl’s been back training, but I think we’ll have a better idea of exactly where he’s at after today and tomorrow.

“He’s been on the grass, and he’s done a little bit, but today and tomorrow will have a big bearing on how close he actually is.

“It’s good. Ideally, as a coach, you want everybody available so you can have that whole plethora of choices to then select from.

“It’s pleasing for Winny as well because he has had a big contribution since I’ve been here to get us to where we are. It’s a good situation.”

As well as welcoming Winchester back into the training fold this week, Neil has also been keeping a close eye on Nathan Broadhead and has been delighted with the striker’s wellbeing.

Having been a late substitute in the semi-final second leg at Hillsborough, Broadhead has been able to train fully this week, and is therefore in contention for a starting spot at Wembley.

Neil said: “Nathan’s been fine. He had limited time at the weekend (in the second leg) but the difficulty I had there was because of the way we played the game and the shape we adopted, he’s a natural centre-forward and we were only playing with one in the game.

“I thought we were going to hurt them on the flanks because they play with a back three, and down the sides was where we were going to damage them.

“In that respect, to give him more game time, I was going to have to alter how we did things. That’s why his game time was limited.

“But in that respect, it was probably good for him because it’s saved him for going forward into this one.”