SUNDERLAND face an anxious wait to discover the severity of Dan Ballard's injury after the defender was forced off during Northern Ireland's defeat to Finland.

Ballard "felt something go" and was replaced in the early stages of the second half of Sunday night's 1-0 defeat. He's now set for a scan this week.

The centre-half is hopeful that the injury is nothing serious but he's now a major doubt for Friday night's trip to the Championship's runaway leaders Burnley.

It's yet another blow for boss Tony Mowbray, who has had to deal with a number of injury setbacks to key players in the second half of the season. Ross Stewart and Corry Evans both had their campaign ended prematurely due to injury, Aji Alese was recently ruled out for the rest of the season and Amad Diallo had to miss a couple of games.

Mowbray and his coaching staff will now be eagerly awaiting the result of Ballard's scan.

After Sunday's game, the defender, who has established himself as a key man in Sunderland's defence since his summer move from Arsenal, told Viaplay: "I felt a little something go. I'm hoping for the best, I don't think it's too serious.

"I'll probably get scanned in the next few days and hopefully be back playing very soon."

It was a frustrating night for Ballard, who was forced to watch from the sidelines for the last 40 minutes of the game as Northern Ireland slipped to a narrow defeat in Michael O'Neill's first home game in charge since he was reappointed boss.

Despite the defeat, Ballard has seen plenty to be encouraged by during the international break, with Northern Ireland having started their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a win in San Marino last week

He said: "We put in a good performance (against Finland) but couldn't get it over the line and couldn't put it in the back of the net. I think on the whole if we perform like that for the rest of the group we'll pick up a lot of points.

"It is a young squad, there's a lot of energy and we have some very talented players. We have a great manager who gives us good instructions."

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Ballard will now return to Wearside and will be desperate to play his part in the final weeks of the campaign, with the centre-half having enjoyed an impressive debut season in the Championship.

Sunderland's players haven't given up on on the play-offs but the chances of a top six finish now look slim. Regardless, Ballard says Sunderland owe it to the brilliant fans to keep giving them something to cheer about right to the end of the season.

The support from the stands has blown Ballard away during his first season at the club.

He says: "I think I was surprised by the support from the fans, especially the away games with Sunderland being quite far away and it being hard to travel that long way.

"There is a lot more expectation and it does give you that extra boost. You really want to do it for the fans because they love the club and I’ve not really felt that at other teams I’ve been at. You want to win for them."