'More than deserves an opportunity' - Mike Dodds happy to give defender Sunderland chance

Sunderland will have to do without Dan Ballard against Swansea, but Mike Dodds thinks they have a more than worthy replacement.

Mike Dodds says Jenson Seelt ‘more than deserves an opportunity’ as the Dutchman prepares to deputise for the suspended Dan Ballard at the heart of the Sunderland defence.

Ballard picked up his tenth booking of the season last week at Birmingham, meaning he eventually fell off the disciplinary tightrope he had been talking for weeks.

He will now serve a two-match ban in the games against Swansea and Norwich, handing an overdue opportunity to Seelt.

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Seelt has impressed for Sunderland since joining from PSV in the summer, but he has mainly been used in an unfamiliar right back position.

His most impressive performance came under Dodds as a central defender against Leeds earlier in the season, although he was again on the bench a few days later when Sunderland went to Bristol City.

Dodds, though, has every faith in Seelt and he is glad he will now finally get a chance to stake a claim for one of the centre back positions.

“Jenson in the Leeds performance in particular, I thought was excellent on the night,” Dodds said. “I made a call to change the way we set up which meant Jenson came out of the team [at Bristol City].

“Jenson knows the reason behind that and he was more than comfortable. I think Jenson more than deserves an opportunity to have a few games and a bit of a run in the team to show where he's at.

“He's trained really well. He knows my thoughts on him and hopefully in the next couple of games he can show everyone how good he is.”

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