Danny Batth aiming to help Sunderland's play-off bid as he nears full fitness

Danny Batth is aiming to play a part in Sunderland's run-in after stepping up his recovery from injury during the international break. The Black Cats' January signing Batth has been out of action for more than a month due to an ankle problem, with the injury flaring up several times when he has tried to resume training.

But the former Stoke City centre-back completed the full 90 minutes for the U23s against Burnley last week as he took an important stride towards a comeback. "Obviously the manager [Alex Neil] just wants me to get back and back into training," said Batth.

"I'll use the next few weeks to build up and then see where we're at then. Hopefully I'll be ready. The team have been doing well but I always feel like I can help improve and have a big part to play at the club going forward."

Of the injury itself, Batth admitted: "It just seems to have dragged on and I’ve tried to come back a few times. It's been a niggly injury so we've kind of had to let it build up and obviously I've been working hard off the pitch in the gym and physically.

"The injury was pretty unfortunate, it was in a blocked tackle. I've won the ball and the guy has put all his weight into my ankle.

"There was no massive damage on the scan, it has just been niggling and niggling so hopefully that's behind me now and I can crack on. I've just been using the international break to get up to speed."

Batth produced an excellent performance on his Sunderland debut, which came in a 1-0 win against Portsmouth at the Stadium of Light in January. But he scored an unfortunate own-goal in his second outing, which ended in a 6-0 defeat at Bolton at the the end of that month, and he went on to play in the defeats against Doncaster and Cheltenham.

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