Tony Mowbray has said that Niall Huggins 'will be on the coach' as Sunderland take on Birmingham City in the Championship tonight.

The Lowdown: Injury problems

The 21-year-old has suffered from some really unfortunate injury problems since arriving at the Stadium of Light, restricting him to a mere four senior appearances for the Wearside club.

The right-back made his return to the pitch for the under-21s last month and has played three games in total for Graeme Murty's team so far this season.

The Latest: Huggins in the squad

Speaking to the media in his pre-game press conference ahead of Sunderland's match at Birmingham tonight, Mowbray has confirmed that Huggins is back training with the first team and 'will be on the coach' to the ground with the rest of the squad.

The 58-year-old stated that Huggins “is fully back in with the first team and he will be on the coach travelling with us to Birmingham”.

The Verdict: Timely boost for Sunderland

After Mowbray admitted that his side have 'lots' of injuries going into tonight's clash, having Huggins back in the first team - having made no senior appearances so far in this campaign - is no doubt a timely boost for Sunderland.

There was a lot of promise for Huggins when he first arrived from Leeds United, with the Black Cats' manager at the time Lee Johnson praising his versatility, physicality and speed.

Equally as comfortable at playing both right-back and left-back, the youngster's extra versatility will also be welcomed by Mowbray, especially if the Sunderland boss has a number of players unavailable in the full-back positions.