Steven Fletcher out for rest of season

SCOTLAND and Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering ankle ligament damage on international duty last Friday, two minutes into the World Cup qualifier against Wales at Hampden.

Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill was dealt a devastating double blow when it was also confirmed that Lee Cattermole will miss the rest of the campaign after surgery on a persistent knee problem.

A club statement said: “It is not known at this stage if Fletcher will require an operation, with the injury requiring further assessment in the coming weeks. Both players will play no further part in the Black Cats’ 2012-13 Barclays Premier League season.”

The news could hardly have come at a worse time for O’Neill, whose team is firmly entrenched in a battle for top-flight survival with eight games of the campaign to play.

They face leaders Manchester United at the Stadium of Light on Saturday desperate to end a run of seven league games without a victory which has yielded just three points and left them only four clear of the drop zone.

Fletcher will be a huge loss after paying off a large chunk of the £12million the club invested in him during the summer with 11 goals. However, having scored five in his first four games for the Black Cats, the 26-year-old former Hibs forward has managed only one in his last seven, with the supply lines having dried up alarmingly.