Rangers loanee Jordan Jones was dropped for Sunderland’s League One clash against Accrington Stanley on Saturday afternoon despite recently receiving praise from fans of the club.
Jones scored a fine volley in a 2-2 draw with Hull City on Tuesday night and after the game, plenty of supporters urged the Black Cats to tie him down to a permanent deal.
Yet, he didn’t make the starting XI for a crucial game in their quest for promotion only a matter of days later.
The 26-year-old was named on the bench, with former Celtic star Aiden McGeady one of those to come back into the team.
Early on, it looked as though manager Lee Johnson had nailed his team selection, with Sunderland going 2-0 up by the 11th minute.
However, things fell apart somewhat after the interval, with the visitors netting twice in quick succession to bring the scores back level.
Accrington’s second prompted Johnson to turn to Jones with 16 minutes remaining, but although Max Power briefly restored the hosts’ advantage, the visitors kept going and earned a point through an 85th-minute Sean McConville free-kick.
The 3-3 draw is the latest of a series of poor results and it’s now almost certain that Sunderland won’t secure automatic promotion and will instead have to try their luck through the playoffs.
Jones’ long-term future remains unclear. He’s contracted to Rangers until 2023 and says that talks are planned with Steven Gerrard at the end of the season [Daily Record], but multiple Championship clubs have been credited with an interest in a transfer [TEAMtalk].
In other news, a Rangers loanee will join a rival Premiership club on a permanent deal in the summer.
