MIKE Dodds says his decision to leave Abdoullah Ba out of the Sunderland squad for Saturday's game against Bristol City was "nothing personal".

Eyebrows were raised at the winger's omission at the Stadium of Light but Dodds says the 20-year-old still has a big future on Wearside and there's a "strong chance" he'll return to the squad for Tuesday's game at Leeds United.

Ba had featured in five - starting four - of the games in Dodds' current stint in charge before he was left out of the matchday squad altogether on Saturday.

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But the interim head coach explained his thinking and revealed he didn't envisage bringing Ba off the bench against the Robins, so decided to leave the youngster out altogether.

"My personal opinion, Abdoullah isn't going to like the decision but I think it's a huge positive in terms of, we have competition for places, what competition in that area does is it creates more desire," said Dodds.

"Competition is healthy and good. The decision was the decision.

"I really like Abdoullah. Prior to that game, I think I'd taken 10 games and started him in seven. It wasn't a personal thing, he wasn't in the game previously, he was on the bench.

"I wanted to make sure Aji (Alese) was in the squad and trying to get him on the pitch was always in my head prior to the game.

"I just felt one of the attacking players had to miss out. Pat (Roberts) was back as well, I knew I was going to keep Riggy (Chris Rigg) on for as long as possible.

"I didn't see an opportunity when I was going to get him on. That was nothing personal, he has a strong chance of being in the squad on Tuesday. When you pick the team, you try and predict your subs and before the game I didn't see him being one of those subs."