Everything Sheffield Wednesday boss Darren Moore said on Barry Bannan's availability ahead of Sunderland clash

Bannan, who has racked up nine goals and 12 assists from midfield in a head-and-shoulders season, went down late in the Owls’ play-off-clinching 4-1 win over Portsmouth over the weekend, prompting panic in the fanbase as to his availability for their play-off double-header.

Wednesday make the trip to the Stadium of Light on Friday evening for the first leg, with the return leg at Hillsborough to be played on Monday.

Asked of his captain’s condition as part of his pre-match media commitments on Thursday afternoon, Moore gave little away as to how much Bannan has been involved this week.

“We’ve had him wrapped up in cotton wool,” Moore said. “We’ll have a look at him and see how it is at this moment in time.

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“I’m speaking to you before our last training session. If I was speaking afterwards I would have told you more but we’ll look at him and see how he is.

“He’s been fine, still the chirpy Baz we know around the place but the proof in the pudding will be with some training and to see if the game comes too soon or if he’s fine.”

Sunderland manager Alex Neil said earlier that he expected Bannan to play a part in the Friday night clash, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

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And Moore suggested he and his staff would have to see if the Scot came through their final pre-match training session before a decision was made.

“We’ll see today” he said. “We’re not training until later today, we can only go off how we see that how today goes. We’ll know more then. We’ve been looking after him all week and that’s been the situation up to now.

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“He’s an experienced individual at the age he’s at now. The truth of the matter is – and I know we’re talking about Baz as a sole entity – but there’s a risk with any player when they take a training session, even those that are deemed the fittest. There’s always a risk.

“We’ll wait and see what it is when we get around to it.”