Sunderland new boy Rory Delap could be handed his debut in the club’s Premiership trip to Birmingham tomorrow.

The 29-year-old Republic of Ireland midfielder played 45 minutes for the reserves in their 4-0 home defeat by Aston Villa on Wednesday evening after shaking off the Achilles injury with which he arrived on Wearside from Southampton last month.

Manager Mick McCarthy is desperate for a boost as time runs out for his relegation-haunted team, and he has confirmed Delap will make the trip to St Andrews and could be involved.

"Rory is in contention," he said. "He has only missed three weeks. Prior to that, he’d been playing, he’d been fit, so yes, he’s in contention. He will be travelling with us."

Delap was joined in the reserves by Irish striker Stephen Elliott, who has not played a first-team game since November 5th after suffering a stress fracture of the back.

He too got 45 minutes under his belt against Villa’s second string and looked sharp, although McCarthy, despite his understandable eagerness to have a man who has claimed two of the six Premiership goals scored by his strikers this season, admits the game will probably come too soon for him.

"No, it’s unlikely," he admitted. "He’s only had 45 minutes since November, and it would be difficult to expect him to come back and be involved in the first team. But we will see how he is.

"He’s scored two goals out of the six goals the strikers have scored between them. He’s got two of them and he’s not played since November, so that stat tells its own story.

"He’s a goalscorer, there’s no question. The two he got against Newcastle and Manchester United were terrific."