Tony Mowbray fearing lengthy injury absence for Danny Batth

Sunderland defender suffered a calf injury in the battling draw with Hull.

Tony Mowbray fears Danny Batth has torn his calf, with Sunderland appearing to have replaced one injured centre-back for another.

Batth has been arguably Sunderland’s player of the season so far, but he had to come off inside the first 15 minutes of the 1-1 draw against Hull.

He was replaced by Dan Ballard, who had missed the last 19 games with a fractured foot. He looked understandably rusty and gave away a second half penalty that Hull failed to convert.

However, although it was great to get Dan Ballard back after such a long absence, losing Batth would be a definite blow.

"You get players back fit - Ross Stewart is back fit, Dan Ballard is back fit - but it's the way of the world in football that other players then get injured,” Mowbray said.

"It's very, very rare that you have your whole squad fit and available. Danny Batth felt his calf. Whether it is a tear, I'm not sure, but he felt a sharp pain in his calf as he pushed off and he had to come off.

"I'm pleased for Ballard. It was longer than we would have wanted him to play, so it was probably almost understandable that he made a tired lunge and gave the penalty away. He should probably only have got 30 minutes today, if we were going to change the centre-backs at all."

If Batth has torn his calf, he would be out for a minimum of a month, depending on the severity. 

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