Reports: Sunderland Lineup Friendly With Histon

According to reports emanating from the area, Sunderland are set to play non-league side Histon this coming Monday at the Glass World Stadium.

There hasn't been anything confirmed by Sunderland yet, but Histon manager Dennis Greene seems very confident it's going to happen, and is unlikely to go on record in such a way unless things were confirmed;

I've been speaking to Martin since last year about a friendly. He phoned me up the other day and said he'd finally got a date for me.

I played for him at Wycombe and he always tries to help out whenever he can.

He's bringing a lot of the lads that went on the tour with him. There were some young lads in that, but they're proper players, so hopefully he'll bring a good group with him.

It would suggest then that some of the younger players who missed out in Korea, such as Billy Knott might be in line for a game, while players recovering from injury or playing catch-up such as Phil Bardsley and Matt Kilgallon could use the game to get further match fitness.

It remains to be seen whether or not this will be Sunderland or a "Sunderland XI" but if O'Neill is there, I'd have thought it would be safe to class it as a first team fixture, even if it is only days after a trip to Hartlepool United.

Remaining Preseason Games

Friday 27th July - vs Hartlepool United, Kick Off 7:30pm - Victoria Park, England

Monday 30th July - vs Histon, Kick Off TBD - Glass World Stadium, England

Wednesday 8th August - vs Derby County, Kick Off 7:45pm - Pride Park, England

Saturday 11th August - vs Leicester City, Kick Off 3:00pm - King Power Stadium, England