MIKE DODDS is adamant he will not use the final five matches of the Championship season as an opportunity to ‘experiment’ with his Sunderland side.

The Black Cats head into their remaining five games with precious little to play for given they are 15 points adrift of the play-off positions but also ten points clear of the relegation places.

Tomorrow’s game at Elland Road has a lot riding on it from an opposition point of view given that Leeds United are challenging for automatic promotion, and the remaining matches against West Brom, Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday could also have significance at either end of the table.

They will mean little to Sunderland, however, but that does not mean Dodds will be making wholesale changes to his line-up in an attempt to test things out ahead of next season.

“I’ve said in previous press conferences, I don’t want the last five games to be an experiment,” said the interim head coach, who presided over a goalless draw with Bristol City at the weekend. “I want to win the last five games.

“Results haven’t gone how I want the results to go, but I’m not going to experiment in the last five games just for the sake of experimenting. If they get an opportunity, it will be completely deserved.”

Sunderland’s Under-21 team contains a number of youngsters who are knocking on the door of a first-team call-up.

READ MORE:

Tom Watson made his senior debut as a substitute in the latter half of last season, but has not been involved at all in the first-team ranks this term, while Harrison Jones also caught the eye in last month’s Under-21s win over Leicester City.

Dodds has restored 16-year-old Chris Rigg to the starting line-up in recent weeks, but does not want to be promoting youngsters just for the sake of it in the next five games.

“The younger lads have been training with us regularly, and I think that’s really important in terms of their development,” he said. “My background is developing players, and I think I’ve shown what I’m prepared to do with Chris Rigg.

“I gave Chris his first start against Leicester and played him against Southampton, two teams with Premier League budgets. Without blowing my own trumpet, I’ve shown that I will play young players in the big games.

“Playing young players is something I will never, ever not do. They will get an opportunity in terms of that – the door is open – but at the same time, you have to get a balance.

“You have to make sure the environment is right for them, and obviously off the back of a 5-1 defeat definitely wouldn’t be the right environment for a young player. Earning the right to play for this wonderful football club is important, you can’t just be given the right.”