Sunderland's preparations for the New Year's Day draw at Blackpool were severely hampered by an illness bug that spread around the camp.

The Black Cats stayed in the North-West between their Championship games against Wigan and Blackpool but their plans were severely disrupted by the illness, with Tony Mowbray revealing that some players had hardly left their beds before insisting on Sunday morning that they wanted to play against the Seasiders.

Mowbray said: "We've had a lot of illness in the camp and maybe that was partly why we started slowly. Our first day of training after Wigan I think there were only six who trained, and then 11 or 12 the next day. A few of the lads who played this afternoon have been in their beds the last couple of days with illness.

"We also have a lot of injuries. I can count eight or nine that would have started that weren't here.

"Luke O'Nien wasnt going to play until this morning when he woke up and didn't feel as bad.

"Corry (Evans) filled the bench really rather than coming onto play. Then there's all the injuries. A lot of players were unavailable."

With so many players unavailable, 15-year-old Chris Rigg made the bench for the first time, while Tom Watson also travelled.

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Despite the illness and injuries, Sunderland came away from Blackpool disappointed to have not picked up all three points. They fell behind in the first half but Ross Stewart levelled after the break and Mowbray's side had more than enough chances to win it, hitting the bar twice.

Mowbray said: "We leave really frustrated that we didn't win the game and I think that's fair, there was only one team who were going to win it in the second half.

"There are things to work on but it's good the team feel disappointed to come away not winning, it shows how far they've come.

"But it was an opportunity we missed. You can't keep missing opportunities if you want to put a marker down. We came on the road believing we could win both games."