Barry Bannan's ready for more action against Sunderland plus why HE decided to come off against Preston North End

Bannan made his first start since early December in Friday’s 4-1 victory over Preston North End, coming off the back of a substitute appearance at Leeds United before the international break.

While admitting that he tired towards the end of the match, Bannan said it was he who made the decision to come off at Hillsborough for the sake of the team, as the visitors pressed for an equaliser after pulling the match back to 2-1 in Wednesday’s favour.

And the Scotland international says he has wasted too much time on the sidelines already this season, to sit out another, as Wednesday head for Sunderland.

“It’s just getting back into it, you can play all the 23 games in the world but it’s completely different to coming and plying in this league,” he said.

“It’s a tough league but I felt good up to 70-75 minutes.

“I could have gone on through to the end but I was thinking of the team more and getting someone on who was 100% rather than me being 70% or I could pick up another injury.

“I had to take the sensible option, sometimes you have to think ahead. You don’t want to break down again, I had to use my head.

“We have another game on Monday that I want to be involved in from the start. I took the sensible option.”

Bannan, whose sublime ball over the top of the Preston defence found Lucas Joao for Wednesday’s second goal in that impressive win on Friday, added: “The season is nearly over, I have missed a lot of games,

“I want to be out there playing every game to the rest of the season.

“There’s another big game, Sunderland away and I will prepare properly as if I am going to play.

“I don’t know if I’ll start but hopefully I will.”

Jos Luhukay said after Friday’s win that he would assess the fitness of the squad over the weekend before deciding on his team for the trip to Sunderland, with some changes expected.