Well here we are. One game from the start of the season, in the sunshine in Edinburgh, Darren Bent’s debut and I’m quite excited.

I must admit that before our first warm up game at Darlo there was very little adrenalin pumping through my veins. We’d signed no one of note, it seemed like two minutes since the previous season had ended and although I was over the moon about the Mags going down, for me it didn’t paper over the cracks of a crap 2008/09 campaign.

In fact one of the bad things about the Scum going down (if there can be any!) was that Sunderland Football Club almost got away with our players not trying for much of last season and that kind of pissed me off.

Jones was coming out with quotes pre Darlington about him doing this that and the other, seemingly forgetting he’d not been arsed to jump for the ball and been pedestrian in closing the opposition down since December 2008.

Still I like a moan and after Darlo, Amsterdam chilled me out, Celtic gave me back a bit of passion and the purchases of Cana and Bent got my blood pumping and I was well up for the trip to Hearts.

I expected the strongest line up possible at Tynecastle, but the match started with both Jones and Cana on the bench. I expect to see both on the pitch when the season proper kicks off at the Reebok in seven days time. Sunderland’s line up consisted of:

Fulop
Bardsley Ferdinand Collins McCartney
Malbranque Leadbitter Richardson Reid
Bent Campbell

The match started off at a decent pace. The home side were a lot more competitive than Celtic the week previous. The game also seemed to capture the Hearts’ supporter’s imagination, who seemed quite up for putting one over on an English team. Flower of Scotland was given an airing in response from the chants of “In-ger-land” from our end. The first real chance came to the non stop Steed Malbranque. A cross from the left reached him at the back post, but he pulled his shot wide of the far post. Soon after Fulop was called into action to block a shot which he gathered at the second attempt. Darren Bent was showing some decent touches and worked a hell of a lot harder than Cisse ever did. He even chased back and tackled player. Must be new tactics Steve Bruce has thought up. Genius. Half way through the first half and there wasn’t much between the two teams when Hearts took the lead. A corner wasn’t cleared properly and Obua hit a half volley on the turn against the underside of the bar which bounced over the line. This was the que for Anton Ferdinand to go a bit mental and give everybody a good talking to. It’s good to see the passion there to get results, even if it is a friendly game. It’s the kind of fight we needed which was missing from March onwards in the last campaign. While Phil Bardsley clattered into a few tackles in a way only he can we could’ve drew level through Frazier Campbell when he had the chance of a shot on goal. A poor finish that scooped up stupidly high was a wasted chance. Minutes later we had our equaliser through new boy Darren Bent. A parried shot by the Hearts keeper seemed to roll about the six yard box for an eternity before Bent put it away. One of these right place right time goals that Andy Gray will be creaming himself about when Owen does it for Man Utd this season. An important goal in the fact that Bent is now off the mark for us and will hopefully hit the ground running in the Premiership.

Half time saw Craig Gordon do an interview over the tanoy system for the Hearts fans. Gordon warmed up before the match but had no place in the squad, still not 100% after the summer out injured, it looks certain Steve Bruce has had the difficult decision as to who will start the season as Sunderland’s No.1. made for him.

The second half didn’t have the bite the first did, especially from the team in red and white and if there was going to be a winner, I reckon Hearts were a good bet. After the hour Bruce made a triple substitution with Jones, Cana and Henderson replacing Reid, Leadbitter and Malbranque. Jones looked a handful without being able to carve open any real goal scoring opportunity. While Hearts were arguably the better team in the second period, clear cut chances were few and far between. A scorching free kick strung Fulop’s hands, and the rebound was cleared. It has perhaps lucky he was behind the ball as it moved that fast either side of him he might not have seen it. Tainio replaced Noz which saw Cana move to centre half after only 20 minutes in his usual midfield role. Healy also replaced Bent. It’s highly likely our new No.9 isn’t match fit after spending for what seemed like an eternity twittering away while he waited to see if Daniel Levy would sell him. The final move of the match saw Fulop produce a great save in injury time palming away a shot from the edge of the box.

Overall another decent work out for us. Hearts took the game a bit more seriously than Celtic and put up a bit more of a fight and caused more problems. It would have been nice to finish off pre season with a win, but the real stuff starts next week. Bring it on.

Final Score: 1-1

ALS Man of the Match: Malbranque worked hard for the hour he was on, Bent worked hard and got his goal. Overall I reckon Fulop did everything he could and looked solid throughout.