Sunderland were comprehensively beaten by League Two Bradford City at Valley Parade in their latest pre-season outing. The Black Cats fell behind early in the second half to Emmanuel Osadebe's goal, and Bradford extended their lead 15 minutes from the end when Jamie Walker won and converted a penalty.
But Mark Hughes' Bradford were the better side throughout and could easily have scored two or three more goals against a disjointed and lacklustre Sunderland side that offered little attacking threat of its own. The one consolation for Alex Neil is that the line-up that began at Bradford is a long, long, way away from the one that will start against Coventry City on the opening day of the season.
Neil named a full slate of changes from the weekend friendly win at Dundee United, as he looked to give more members of his squad a full 90 minutes. He also chose this game to experiment with a back three, giving new signing Aji Alese his first start alongside Danny Batth and Carl Winchester in central defence.
