SUNDERLAND are fearing Niall Huggins could be facing a long-term absence after he was stretchered from the field in today’s 3-0 defeat to Coventry City.

Huggins went down in the second half, and the reaction of players and officials made it immediately clear that he had suffered a significant problem.

The defender was treated on the pitch, before being lifted onto a stretcher and carried from the field.

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He will now undergo a series of scans, but head coach Michael Beale admits the initial prognosis does not look good.

Beale said: “We'll have to wait for a scan on it, but the early indications are that it's not a good one. The game is really cruel because Niall has been having a fantastic season and certainly doesn't deserve what we might think, which is a long-term injury.

“Our options are obviously a bit limited in the full back areas, we may have to bring one of those guys who hasn't been back long into the team. With the amount of games we've got, everyone is going to have to bite down on the gum shield and we need to come out and show a different face at Hull. Good teams aren't just good with the football.

“We know we can move Trai (Hume) across, Aji (Alese) and (Timothee) Pembele played 45 minutes in the U21 game the other night. Dennis (Cirkin) has trained three days this week, we know that Jenson (Seelt) can move out there and obviously we have the option of moving to a back three as we did against Leeds.

“But we're losing who I think has had an outstanding season, and a player who I was really looking forward to working with. I'm bitterly disappointed for him.”

Alex Pritchard was not in today’s squad because of an illness, with Beale hoping he could be able to return for the Boxing Day game at Hull City. Luis Hemir was also unavailable today because of a sickness issue.

Beale said: “I'll have to get an update tonight. The problem is when you have two players go down with a sickness bug and you've got so many games close together, you can't take the risk.

“If it's Saturday to Saturday... but when the games are so close together and you're travelling and staying in hotels, you're trying to minimise the risk of it spreading within the group.”