Sunderland defender Bailey Wright reportedly is progressing well in his recovery from the ankle injury that he suffered two months ago.

The centre-back joined the Black Cats on loan from Bristol City in January and quickly became an important player in Phil Parkinson's side – starting five of his first six League One games.

However, he suffered an ankle injury late on against Oxford United in February, with Parkinson later revealing the Australian was expected to miss eight to 12 weeks.

It has been two months to the day since Wright suffered that injury and, speaking in a Q&A for the Sunderland Echo, Phil Smith provided a positive update on his fitness.

He said: "Wright spoke to supporters in a Q&A on the club’s twitter last week and said that he was pretty much at full fitness.

"Obviously he’s not been able to do quite the same rehab he would have with access to the Academy of Light, but physios were still monitoring his programme and he’s made good progress.

"Match fitness will obviously be the biggest issue for him if and when the season resumes."

It was suggested at the time that the injury could mean Wright missed the rest of the season but the delay will likely mean he is available for part of the run-in.

The Black Cats are sitting seventh in League One as things stand and will be hoping that, if and when the season resumes, they can climb into the play-off places and potentially the top two.

Wright's future looks particularly uncertain as his current deal with the Robins is set to expire in the summer.

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The Verdict

This is good news for the Black Cats as it appears as if Wright's recovery is going well, despite the disruption caused by the lack of training.

If, how, and when the current campaign will return is unclear but it now looks likely that the Sunderland centre-back will be available if it does.

Match fitness is going to be key but you'd imagine clubs will be given a sort of mini pre-season should the campaign return, which should allow him time to build that up.