Trai Hume's header and a comedy own-goal saw Sunderland see off their former manager Jack Ross' Dundee United side to clock up their first win of pre-season. The Black Cats, who saw their game against Rangers in Portugal abandoned at half-time due to a powercut when they were leading 1-0, and then lost against Roma in midweek, returned to the UK and earned a convincing victory at Tannadice Park.
Hume headed Alex Neil's side in front against the Scottish Premiership team just after half-time, before hapless Terrors defender Charlie Mulgrew's overhit backpass caught out his own goalkeeper and found the net shortly after the hour. Sunderland could have scored more goals with Ross Stewart in particular passing up a couple of good opportunities.
But this was still a convincing pre-season performance, a fortnight before the Championship campaign begins and it gave Neil the opportunity to give latest signing Aji Alese a 25-minute run-out from the bench and he impressed on his debut. Neil named only three of the players in his starting line-up that began against Roma in Portugal in midweek, with Anthony Patterson, Dennis Cirkin, and Leon Dajaku retained.
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Stewart returned after missing that game with a minor knock, while Bailey Wright made his first appearance of pre-season having come back to training slightly later than the others due to his involvement in World Cup qualifying over the summer. New signing Daniel Ballard started alongside Wright in central defence.
Sunderland created a good chance inside the opening ten minutes, when Dajaku found Dan Neil inside the box on the left and he turned his man inside and out before chipping the ball up for Stewart, but he could only send his header back across goal and wide. A surging Patrick Roberts run opened up the home defence, but he decided to go it alone when he had options left and right and in the end his shot was blocked.
Sunderland's best chance of the half came ten minutes before the break when a brilliant pass from Roberts set Stewart away in the right-hand channel, but his low shot lodged between the legs of goalkeeper Carljohan Eriksson who then grabbed the loose ball before Stewart could follow up. Liam Smith sent a header over the bar for Dundee United just after the interval after good work from Tony Watt.
And at the other end Neil came within an ace of heading Sunderland in front when he got on the end of Alex Pritchard's precision cross, but Eriksson flung himself to his left to make a brilliant save to push the effort away from danger. But Sunderland finally made the breakthrough on 52 minutes when Cirkin's cross from the left was punched out by Eriksson only as far as Hume, and he directed his first-time header into the net from around ten yards.
Pritchard then put Stewart through, but he could neither beat the keeper nor direct the ball back into Pritchard's path with the goal gaping. Patterson made a routine save from Archie Meekison just before the hour.
But Sunderland doubled their lead in bizarre fashion on 63 minutes. Home defender Mulgrew, just inside his own half, played a blind backpass without realising that Eriksson was well outside his penalty area and all the keeper could do was chase it as it rolled into the empty net in front of the Sunderland fans.
Patterson palmed away another shot from Meekison in the final 20 minutes but by then Sunderland were firmly in control.
There were chances at both ends in the final stages but Dundee United's final ball let them down on multiple occasions, while Sunderland sub Jack Diamond missed an opportunity with the last kick of the game after he had intercepted a slack pass.
How they lined up
Dundee United: Eriksson, Smith, Edwards, Mulgrew (Graham 75), McMann, Sibbald (Freeman 60), Meekison (Clark 75), Niskanen (Chalmers 75), Harkes (Mochrie 85), MacLeod (Cudjoe 57), Watt (Glass 75). Subs not used: Adams, Watson, Duffy, Thomson
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, Wright (Alese 66), Ballard, Cirkin, Evans, Neil, Roberts, Pritchard, Dajaku, Stewart (Diamond 66). Subs not used: Carney, O'Nien, Matete, Winchester, Gooch, Embleton, Clarke, Batth, Sohna, Taylor
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