ACCRINGTON Stanley's game at home to Sunderland on Tuesday has been postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak at the Wearside club.

The news comes 24 hours after the Reds clash at Doncaster Rovers was called off at short notice for the same reason.

It is the fourth match the Black Cats have had to call off and comes after matches against Shrewsbury on December 19, Blackpool three days later and Hull on Boxing Day were postponed following a number of positive cases in their camp.

Stanley themselves have suffered from a coronavirus outbreak in their own camp with 19 players and staff testing positive in October with the Reds missing four league matches - an absence from playing that manager John Coleman admitted took its toil on his players and took time to get back up to speed.

Stanley will now prepare for Saturday's home clash with Portsmouth having not played since the 0-0 draw with Blackpool on December 19.

A statement on Sunderland’s official website on Sunday said: “Sunderland AFC’s upcoming game against Accrington Stanley has been suspended.

“Scheduled to take place on Tuesday December 29, the club has informed the EFL that it will be unable to play the fixture due to the ongoing effects of a Covid-19 outbreak at the Academy of Light.

“Due to the scale of this outbreak and the volume of positive tests returned by players and staff, the club has taken the decision to postpone the game based solely on the health and wellbeing of all affected.”

The scheduled return to action for Lee Johnson’s men is now the away clash with Northampton on Saturday.