This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Player view’ series, this content strand is where we put ourselves in the shoes of a given player, and offer an opinion-based outlook on the perspective on the situation at hand...

Sunderland lost ground on the promotion-chasing teams in League One on Saturday as they fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Lincoln City at Sincil Bank.

It was an afternoon to forget for Sunderland goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin who made another costly error to give the Imps the lead on the day.

McLaughlin's performances have come in for criticism in recent weeks, and this poor performance against Michael Appleton's side on Saturday won't have done him any favours whatsoever.

One man that will fancy his chances of replacing the shot-stopper in the starting XI in the future is Lee Burge, with the 26-year-old already staking a strong claim for a regular starting spot in Jack Ross' side.

Burge lined up for the Black Cats against Sheffield United in the Carabao Cup earlier this season, and kept a clean-sheet as Sunderland ran out surprise 1-0 winners of the Premier League side at Bramall Lane.

So, there was an element of surprise when Burge was dropped from the starting line-up in favour of McLaughlin, who hasn't looked convincing between the posts for much of this year's league campaign in League One.

Jack Ross' men have a good opportunity to get back to winning-ways this week though, as they take on League Two side Grimsby Town in the EFL Trophy.

With McLaughlin set for international duty with Northern Ireland, it seems as though it's going to be the perfect opportunity for Burge to show Ross what he can bring to the Sunderland team this season.

He'll already be confident heading into the game with Grimsby, but he'll fancy his chances of replacing McLaughlin on a regular basis in their league campaign this term.

The expectation for Sunderland this season is always going to be to win promotion back into the Championship, and Jack Ross simply can't afford to keep picking players that aren't performing to the standard required in a promotion bid.

The sooner Burge comes back into the starting XI, the more confident that the majority of the Sunderland supporters will be as they look to return to the second tier of English football.

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