Brown suffers new fitness blow

Sunderland defender Wes Brown could be facing another lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering suspected knee ligament damage.

The 32-year-old former Manchester United centre-back limped off during the first half of Sunday's 3-2 Peace Cup victory over FC Groningen in Korea and is now heading back to Wearside. Black Cats boss Martin O'Neill is now facing mounting defensive problems ahead of the new season with summer signing Carlos Cuellar having also left the field with a thigh strain. O'Neill had already taken a squad to the Far East which was lacking the services of unfit defenders Phil Bardsley and Matt Kilgallon, so he will be keeping his fingers crossed for some good news from the club's medics. He told the Sunderland Echo: "Wes is the worry. It could be a bad one, but we really don't know at this stage. "You are told one thing at half-time and another thing at full-time, so really, it's too early to tell. "We will probably only find out once we are home and it settles down, but hopefully it won't be too bad because he's an important player for us." Brown has been repeatedly troubled by fitness problems since arriving at the Stadium of Light from United last summer, with a knee injury in January, having effectively ended his involvement last term.