Cana card rules him out of City and Blues games
SKIPPER Lorik Cana hopes boss Steve Bruce gets his injured men back to fill the void as he prepares for his third ban of the season.
Tuesday's yellow card against Bolton was the midfielder's TENTH of the season, sparking an automatic two-game suspension for the home clashes with Manchester City on Sunday and Birmingham next weekend.
The Albania international has previously been banned for reaching five yellow cards before the turn of the year, and sat out the 4-3 away loss at Manchester City after being sent off against Aston Villa in December.
But with Bruce hoping Jordan Henderson and Andy Reid could be fit for Sunday, Cana is confident Sunderland will cope with his absence.
Cana said: "Jordan and Andy are on their way back, and they might be ready this weekend.
"We could certainly do with them back, because I am suspended for two games now.
"I'm really disappointed to miss out on the Man City and Birmingham games because I want to be out on the pitch all the time, but I guess it's part of football.
"I don't think my yellow card was deserved on Tuesday because it was my first foul, but I can't do anything about it now.
"I will just do everything I can to support the other lads, and I'm sure we have enough quality in the squad to do well without me."
Sunderland's 4-0 win against Bolton ended a 14-game run without victory, and eased some of the pressure for this weekend.
Fraizer Campbell's goal after just 41 seconds and Darren Bent's second-half hat-trick gave the Black Cats three points for the first time since beating Arsenal on November 21.
"It had been a long time," sighed former Marseille captain Cana.
"When you go 14 games without a win it puts pressure on you because you are down near the relegation places.
"So winning on Tuesday was a vital game for us. I think we deserved to win a lot of games before this one, but sometimes we have just not done the little bit extra that we needed to get the three points.
"But against Bolton the early goal gave us confidence and that was crucial. The fans were right behind us and we played much better.
"I think we have been a lot harder to beat recently, and that shows in our results because we have lost only one of our last six games and kept three clean sheets in that run, too.
"We have got two more home games now, and we can go into the Man City game with a lot of confidence. Hopefully we can build on our win against Bolton."
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Monday 21 May 2012
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