BOB Taylor will partner top scorer Arnar Gunnlaugsson as Wanderers bid to get back on the promotion track without Nathan Blake tomorrow. Born and raised in Horden, a village on the outskirts of Sunderland, Taylor has been given the nod to face Peter Reid's Wearsiders in the Reebok clash of the Division One pre-season favourites.

The summer free transfer from West Brom - goalscoring loan star for Wanderers in the Premiership last season - has been selected ahead of record signing Dean Holdsworth.

Colin Todd, who sold Blake to Blackburn Rovers for £4.25 million yesterday and will be looking to strengthen his side in the coming weeks, has gone for the partnership that proved successful when Wanderers humbled one-time leaders Birmingham City 3-1 at the Reebok in September. Taylor scored two that day and was on target again at Crewe a fortnight later to take his season's total to four before the manager reverted to the Blake-Gunnlaugsson pairing.

Per Frandsen returns in midfield after missing Tuesday night's Worthington Cup win at Norwich - a result and a performance Todd says restored the team's pride after the demoralising 2-1 defeat at Bristol City.

Playing down the importance of tomorrow's fixture, the manager said: "It's been billed as a Championship decider or at least a clash of two teams who are going to get promoted.

"I hope that's the case, of course. But it's far too early to be saying anything like that.

"Nevertheless, it's a good game for us to show that we can bounce back and become the first team to beat Sunderland.

"That's what we are aiming to do after a couple of disappointing league results. "We were disappointed with the defeat by Watford but not with the performance but we needed to win back some pride after the Bristol City game and we did just that at Norwich.

"We've already beaten two teams who were top of the table before coming to the Reebok - Birmingham and Huddersfield - and we're hoping to make it three tomorrow."

Sunderland, who rested six players for their midweek Worthington Cup win against Grimsby, are likely to field the team that beat Bury 1-0 at the Stadium of Light last Saturday. Midfielder Alex Rae is a slight injury doubt with a calf problem.

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