Thornton injury forces RoI no-show

Sean Thornton has been forced to withdraw from the Republic of Ireland's U21 squad for their match against Russia this Friday.

Thornton is suffering from a knee ligament injury which, whilst not thought to be particularly serious, renders him unfit for match action.

Thomas Butler does, howver, feature in the squad, as do former Sunderland squad members Cliff Byrne and Stephen Capper, now at Scunthorpe and Scarborough respectively.

The match will be shown live on Sky Sports on Friday, with a 6pm kick off.