Russell Anderson is desperate to make his mark at Sunderland.

Anderson has only made two appearances for the Black Cats since a £1m move from Aberdeen in June after failing to force his way into manager Roy Keane's starting XI at the start of the season. Since then, the Scotland international has been forced to sit on the sidelines during an irritatingly long rehabilitation from a back injury.

"I've been injured for quite a while now but, hopefully, I should be back training in the next week or so," Anderson told The Journal.

"Provided everything goes according to plan when I get back on the training pitch, I should be back in contention for games quite quickly after that. It feels as though I'll be making a new start to life here at Sunderland, to be honest. It's not been the best of starts to my career down here, so this is a bit like turning over a blank page and starting again.

"I haven't had too many opportunities to show what I can do, but all I can do now is make the most of any chances that come my way when I'm back and available. I need to do everything I can to get myself back into contention for the games and that's what I'll be doing once I get the all-clear to start joining in with everything again."