Same again Shakers

Injuries and suspensions mean that boss Stan Ternent has few alternatives other than to send out the side that battled so gallantly for a point at Oxford last saturday.

That means 27-year-old Chris Swailes will make his home debut after moving from Ipswich as part of the £1 million deal that sent top scorer David Johnson the other way.

Unfortunately for Ternent the £800,000 profit that the Shakers made on Johnson has been earmarked to pay bills and the manger will not be indulging in a spending spree.

He has made enquiries for players this week but no new faces are expected before tomorrow's game.

That means that Peter Swan, Ronnie Jepson and Tony Battersby will carry the attacking load against Peter Reid's in form side.

"They are the best side we have faced this season and they were without three first teamers when we last played them," reckoned assistant boss Sam Ellis.

"They are unbeaten in eight games and on a roll but we are relishing the prospect of taking them on. We showed against Nottingham Forest that we can beat the top sides and there is no reason why we cannot produce a similar performance tomorrow."

Ellis confirmed that Rob Matthews had come safely through his first week of full-time training after eight months out after major knee surgery.

Dean West, however, remains sidelined with the after effects of a hernia operation, David Pugh's knee is proving troublesome, and Andy Gray and Ian Hughes are only part way through six and five match suspensions respectively.

Sunderland are likely to start with Eire international Niall Quinn up front after he made a scoring comeback in the 4-1 win at Portsmouth last week.

Sunderland are expected to bring around 3,000 fans with them tomorrow and have been allocated the Cemetery End after selling out their allocation for the Manchester Road stand.

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