A deserved win thanks to Trai Hyooooom"s follow-up header after Cirkin's cross had been flicked on, and a hilarious OG made for a nice day out. Some bright football made us the better side, but our paucity of attacking options was emphasised when LND was subbed and Diamond took his place.
An early start saw us in Dundee by noon, with a hefty away following enjoying a few coolers in the sunshine as old acquaintances were renewed, with the "alreet marra"s being exchanged with more genuine optimism than in the last few pre-seasons. Desperate Dan featured in a few selfies, as did Jarvis the dog, and Oor Wullie. 'Nuff said.
Patterson
Hume Ballard Wright Cirkin
Evans Neil
Roberts Pritchard Dajaku
Stewart
..numbered 1 to 11, with LND at 11 and Pritchard at 9. Stewart set things away as we attacked the opposite end. There wasn't a load of chances at either end, and Patto dealt confidently with whatever got past the muscular central defence.
There was a slightly nervous second or so when Patto slightly mis-controlled it, but he's nowt if not ridiculously calm and he got it away. Roberts and Pritch were the biggest pests to the home side with impressive close control, but when the former drove into the box, his shot was charged down and Dajaku couldn't capitalise.
Those wanting to see Steven Fletcher were disappointed as he wasn't even on the bench, and as we entered the last ten minutes of the first half Stewart was set up by Roberts, only for his effort to be saved. There might not have been any goals - or even a Sunderland corner - but there'd been some feisty challenges by Cirkin and some crunching ones from Wright and Ballard. Cirkin and Hume had also bombed forward at every opportunity. Level at the break was fair enough - it's a friendly, let's not get too worked up.
Amazingly for a pre-season job, we made no changes for the second half, but immediately looked more positive. Despite this, the home side had the first chance after a run down the wing, but the header from the cross went well over the bar. We had a chance of our own soon after when Pritch crossed nicely - but Stewart's header towards to bottom corner was well saved.
No matter, Cirkin was away down the left again, and when the keeper tipped it on, his oppo fullback simply nodded in his first Sunderland goal. Happy days, and it got even better. A loose ball 35 yards out looked easy for the home side to deal with, but Mulgrew swivelled to volley it to his keeper - who wasn't there, and chased to ball in vain as it zipped into the net. 28 minutes left, laughs all round, the win all but assured.
That gave Jack Ross and Alex Neil the chance to get some fresh legs on - Roberts had an effort blocked before Wright made way for the massively tall Alese and Stewart for the considerably shorter Diamond. Patto pulled off a decent low save at his front post, then the heat seemed to go up a few degrees and the home side visibly wilted. We responded by relaxing, as there was nowt to chase and no need to take any risks. This gave the last fifteen a more typically pre-season, almost testimonial feel, although Diamond did burst out of the general torpor to break forward, but he went too wide and couldn't get a shot away.
That was the signal for the ref to decide enough was enough and end it. A good performance, but our lack of centre forwards was highlighted again. Our central defensive options look good to me, with four decent Lads and a nice mixture of youth, experience, and muscle. I remain unconvinced by Dajaku, but Neil (A) obviously thinks there's something in there he can get out. Let's hope he finds it before too long.
A free bus back to the vicinity of the station, the train, whose departure had been creeping ever earlier, filled with boisterous Mackems who were told they couldn't even posess drink, let alone drink it. The golf fans couldn't get on at Leuchars (for St Andrew's) as we sweated away a few excess pounds in the heat.
See you at Bradford - if I haven't melted away completely.
