DEFENDER Gary Breen has given his young team-mates a glowing commendation by claiming Sunderland can cope when injuries and suspensions hit their promotion push.

Sunderland were beaten 2-0 by West Ham on Saturday, with fans' favourite Julio Arca in the stands serving a one-match ban for his fifth booking of the season.

Arca is available again for this weekend's trip to Cardiff and Mick McCarthy's selection problems have been made easier by the fact Darren Carter has returned to Birmingham prematurely.

Sunderland have been boosted ahead of the trip to Ninian Park by the news that Steve Caldwell's appeal over the red card he received against the Hammers was upheld on Tuesday.

That means the 24-year-old no longer has to serve a three-match suspension for violent conduct and that has come as a relief to his club skipper.

Breen has formed a respected Championship partnership with Caldwell at the heart of the Black Cats' defence.

But the club captain insists that Sunderland - who had Neill Collins and Danny Collins standing by - would have been given a good chance to see just how strong McCarthy's pool of players are.

"It would have been a test of the squad," said Breen. "But as long as we keep getting clean sheets it's good. All the young lads have a good mentality and it's good for us.

"The manager has made a conscious decision to bring young lads in and the manager will be delighted with what they have done.

"But I'm sure you can't really talk of how well everyone is doing until the end of the season."

McCarthy's signings over the past six months have largely been plucked from the unknown, with the likes of Danny Collins, Neill Collins, Liam Lawrence, Dean Whitehead and Andy Welsh all arriving from lower league clubs.

And Breen believes the chance to make a name for themselves at such a big Football League club is not lost on any of the younger players in the Sunderland team.

"It's a great opportunity for them," said the experienced 31-year-old. "They can see how much this club means to the supporters and they know they will be backed if they work hard. The players could not have come to a better Championship club.

"The facilities are tremendous and there aren't that many Premiership clubs with better facilities than us. The young lads are very lucky."

Breen signed a new contract this week to tie him to the club until the summer of 2006, with an option of a further year after that.

And the former West Ham man, whose deal was due to expire in June, was pleased to finally sort things out.

Now Breen hopes to help Sunderland back to the Premiership and he is aiming to get the club back on track by claiming all three points at Cardiff this weekend.

"I'm glad it's sorted because I can concentrate solely on getting promoted," said Breen.

"My advisor has been in touch with the club for a while now and I'm glad it's been resolved. Now all attention is on the Premiership.

"Cardiff was one of our worst performances last season (lost 4-0). They struck me as a good side. I thought Cardiff would have been quite strong this year but they haven't done it."

Meanwhile, Caldwell believes the decision to have Saturday's red card rescinded was the correct one.

Caldwell was adjudged to have stamped on West Ham's Luke Chadwick but was cleared and said: "I'm relieved. I didn't want to miss the games.

"It would have been a longish lay-off and it would have been frustrating.

"In my opinion justice has been done. I was just honestly trying to get the ball back."