Sunderland boss reveals Ross Stewart and Dan Ballard plan ahead of Blackburn Rovers visit

Sunderland head into the festive fixtures on the back of the 1-1 draw at Hull City, a cagey game exploded into life when Oscar Estupinan missed a penalty shortly before Elliot Embleton was shown a red card for a challenge on Ryan Woods.

Sunderland then took an unlikely lead through the returning Stewart, but had to settle for a point when substitute Ozan Tufan levelled shortly afterwards.

Alex Pritchard missed the game with a calf injury, while a similar early injury to Danny Batth meant that defender Dan Ballard made a much longer return that initially planned or expected.

And ahead of the visit of Blackburn Rovers on Boxing Day, Mowbray has revealed he is weighing up whether to stage another bounce game behind-closed-doors at the training base this week to help boost the match sharpness of Stewart, Ballard & Co ahead of the festive fixtures.

Mowbray told the club website: “We are going to try and put another bounce game on midweek so Ross and Danny Ballard can get some sharpness, really.

"Whether we do, because they played so long [at Hull], we may leave them out and get the sharpness through the training.

"The plan was to keep the lads not getting many minutes, keep them fit, they will be needed, situations can arise quickly. All those lads who haven’t played as many minutes as they might have liked have to stay fit and ready for when their chance comes.”