Sunderland have suffered some significant injury setbacks during the current international break

Dan Ballard will undergo a scan today after suffering a hamstring injury in the latter stages of Northern Ireland’s 1-0 win over Georgia.

Ballard pulled up chasing a loose ball and while the severity of the injury is not yet known at this stage, boss Michael O’Neill has already ruled him out of the remaining fixtures in the international break. It adds to Sunderland’s mounting injury worries, with Brian Brobbey also suffering an apparent hamstring injury during Netherland’s 1-0 defeat to Germany a day previous. While the severity of that injury is also unknown, boss Xavi confirmed afterwards that he would be replaced in the squad.

“You saw the nature of how he pulled up, it's a hamstring," O’Neill said of Ballard.

"We'll scan him tomorrow but he's certainly not going to be available for the next three games."

The frustration surrounding Ballard’s injury was heightened by the fact that Northern Ireland felt play should have been stopped for a foul just moments earlier, having already had a penalty given against them.

"At times it didn't go our way,” O’Neill said. I've not seen the incident back but to me it seemed incredibly harsh to give a penalty for that. The guy was nowhere near the ball to head it. We feel aggrieved that we didn't get one at the other end. The foul on Ceadach when he came on the pitch causes Dan to get injured.

"I was just baffled by the quality of the refereeing."

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