Sbragia keen to assess squad

Sbragia: Keen to assess squad

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Sunderland boss Ricky Sbragia made no apologies for fielding a weakened side in their FA Cup fourth round draw with Blackburn.

Sbragia left first-choice strikers Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse on the bench and the Black Cats lacked a cutting edge up front in a disappointing 0-0 draw at the Stadium of Light.

With both clubs battling to avoid relegation from the Premier League, they also have the added distraction of a replay on 4th February to contend with.

But Sbragia feels it was important to check out squad players such as David Healy and Michael Chopra ahead of a busy schedule of matches.

He said: "We've got to know what sort of squad we've got. We maybe just lacked a cutting edge in the attacking third, but it gives the squad players some football and I thought that was important.

"Now we've got four games over 10-12 days so it is important that they get match fitness. We sent a team out to try and win it today.

"I think overall Blackburn had the better chances, but the longer the game went on I thought one of us might have sneaked it, although I would have been disappointed if Blackburn had sneaked it."

Interest

Sbragia remains on the lookout for reinforcements during the transfer window, but would not be drawn on targets or if progress was being made.

He said: "We're always looking for good players, whether we can get them is a different matter.

"We've got things on, but we've got to wait, we can't rush it. We showed our interest and we're waiting for something to come back.

"I think that's been the most difficult part, the focus we've had. On Wednesday I wasn't able to make training for the first time which was a bit disappointing."

The Wearside boss singled out Pascal Chimbonda for special praise after he produced an excellent display as a stand-in central defender, making one vital goalline clearance in the first half to deny Morten Gamst Pedersen.

Sbragia added: "I think he actually prefers playing centre-back. I know at Tottenham he played there a lot with (Michael Dawson).

"I think that was probably his best performance. When we spoke about it on Friday and did some practice on it he didn't seem too concerned."