Aiden McGeady's injury looks worse than it is, according to Sunderland head coach Lee Johnson.

The 35-year-old winger has been a key player for the Black Cats this term after scoring six and creating an impressive 14 goals for the Wearsiders as they continue to battle to secure promotion to the Championship.

McGeady was a notable absentee for Tuesday night's 2-2 draw with Hull City due to a foot injury, but while the blow appears to be a nasty one, Johnson has said that there's positive news regarding the results of his x-ray.

As quoted by the Northern Echo, Johnson said: “If you saw his foot, you wouldn’t believe it.

"It doesn’t match up in terms of how bad it looks, but how good it feels. It’s absolutely black. He’s been stamped on the top of his foot, but he played on, which shows you what a warrior he is.

“He’s a tough little cookie and plays through niggles, but it was a bad one. He tried to take his boot off at half-time in the last game, and almost couldn’t. He then had to get it back on and didn’t really say anything, but then when he took it off after the game, his foot really swelled up.

“We tried to rush him through, but he just couldn’t do it so we had him X-rayed today, and that was positive. It’s a case of trying to flush this swelling out as much as possible now. It’s a best-case scenario in terms of the X-ray. We couldn’t have asked for any more in that sense.”

The verdict

This is encouraging news for Sunderland fans.

Aiden McGeady has been a crucial player for the Black Cats this term and will almost certainly need to be fit if the club are to secure promotion through the play-offs, where they appear destined to end up.

The priority now has to be on getting him fit for those play-off games as he'll certainly be needed.