Hartlepool United 1-1 Sunderland: The honeymoon is over and five other things we learned; We learned more than we might have liked about the new Sunderland at Victoria Park but Benjamin Kimpioka ensured a draw and some positive.

Byline: Stuart Rayner

Two games, a defeat and a last-gasp draw against non-league opposition is hardly cause to be stretching for the panic button.

Being lulled in by results -- good or bad -- is a dangerous game when sides are scraping off the rust for a new season.

It was more the manner ofSunderland'sperformance -- especially in the second quarter of the game -- and the initial response to it which was unsettling from their 1-0 defeat at Hartlepool United. Credit where it was due, their attitude was better in the second period and they showed perseverance too.

There is time to address the issues -- and money, we hope -- but if Jack Ross was in any way over-confident about the task ahead a week ago, there is absolutely no way the Scot will be now.

We learned a bit more than we might have liked for the Black Cats in a fractious afternoon in Teesside, but it was not all bad.

Hartlepool United vs Sunderland - picture special from Black Cats second pre-season friendly

Drawing at Hartlepool is neither here nor there in early pre-season, but the mental fragility Sunderland showed at The Vic was worrying.

They were very good in the opening 19 minutes, playing with a fluidity and energy that had not been there at Darlington on Tuesday.

But as soon as Donald Love's defensive error allowed Niko Muir, the Wearsiders seemed to let it affect them. They ought to be stronger than that.

Pre-season matches are about getting mistakes out of your system, and while no one in red-and-white stripes will have been pleased to see Love make it, it should easily have been shrugged off.

Instead, the Black Cats were really inhibited for the rest of the first half -- even a mid-point water break which effectively served as a possible time-out -- did not sort them out.

The starting XI contained three summer signings -- Dylan McGeouch,Jon McLaughlinand Tom Flanagan -- plus Denver Hume, whose only league appearance last season came in the home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, so it was alarming to see such mental weakness.

Their attitude was much more positive when they came out for the second period and the fact their football was rusty can be dismissed. They cannot afford to go missing for the best part of 40 minutes when the serious stuff starts, though.

Sunderland still hope to add six new players this transfer window, with three bids currently out

Warm-up games are partly about scraping off the rust and getting mistakes out of the system, but once the tide of the game turned away from Sunderland, there was real frustration from the terraces.

OwnerStewart Donald'srevelations that most of last season's squad want out unsurprisingly means the benefit of the doubt has run out for many of them.

Mis-placed passes, overhit crosses and weak challenges drew derision from the away fans and there was plenty to get the 2,233 away fans agitated.

The team was booed off at half-time, and they let it be known they were pleased to see the back of Lee Cattermole when he was substituted in the 66th minute.

It was not all bad -- McGeouch got a good reception when his encouraging first start came to an end -- but the positivity of early summer has been replaced by an impatience.

Signings for the sake of it are no good to anyone, but Sunderland need to get the chequebook out. They have reached mid-July without having spent a penny in transfer fees (six players have come in), and the frustrations are starting to show.

SeeingLoveexposed out of position in the centre of defence and a bench with only eight players -- seven of them academy graduates on it -- just underlined where they are in their rebuilding.

There is still a great deal to do ahead of the August 9 transfer deadline.

Hopefully the [pounds sterling]2m sale of Joel Asoro to Swansea City kicks things into action.

Sunderland learn two of their Checkatrade Trophy group opponents - they won't play Newcastle

Lost your exciting academy-produced Swedish forward? Call up another one from the Whitburn training fields in Benjamin Kimpioka.

The late substitute spared his team's blushes when, in the second added minute, he rolled the ball out of his feet and placed it just inside Ryan Catterick's post.

The Sunderland fans loved it, as well they might. There is something special about seeing an academy product delivering, whether he comes from Seaburn or Swaziland.

Even before Kimpioka's intervention, it was one of the bright spots of the Black Cats' afternoon that they fielded an entire team's-worth of academy graduates.

They need help, but there is talent to be mined in the youth set-up. Thank goodness.

Andrew Nelson on why he owes so much to Sunderland favourite Jermain Defoe

At the end of last season,George Honeymanlooked a good candidate to be the Black Cats' next captain.

The home-grown midfielder made more appearances than anyone else in his first full season of senior football, and his attitude was as impressive as his football, causing then-manager Chris Coleman to declare he would happily build a Premier League side around the man from Prudhoe.

But.

The word from Donald since has been that Honeyman's agent, Margaret Byrne, has told him her client wants out. You can read too much into pre-season team-sheets, but Bali Mumba and Ethan Robson started at Blackwell Meadows. Honeyman did not.

He was on from the kick-off against Hartlepool, though, and even with Cattermole on the field, he had the captain's armband strapped to his arm.

Honeyman was a key part of Sunderland's bright early football -- could he be the next leader of this squad?

Sunderland have three prolific lower league strikers at the top of their summer wishlist

There was a pleasing fluidity about the Wearsiders' early football

which contrasted nicely with the stodginess seen at Darlington.

There Sunderland kicked off in a 4-1-4-1. This time it was more 4-2-3-1, McGeouch giving Cattermole a bit of company, Honeyman allowed to play with a bit of freedom.

The midfielder's link-up with Callum McManaman was one of the highlights of the Dr Jekyll part of Sunderland's performance.

McManaman looked up for it from the off, beating Myles Anderson and nutmegging Liam Noble in the third minute. Honeyman often drifted outside of the winger, and the two linked cleverly.

When Honeyman played a 12th-minute ball down the line, McManaman ran wide from the inside-right channel and delivered a cross which Lynden Gooch had come in off the left wing to in front of the near post to head wide.

It was good stuff. If only they had been able to maintain it once the side went behind.

The Teessiders used the pre-season friendly to pay tribute to their former manager Cooper, and did it very well.

A smile was rarely too far from the former Aberdeen player's face, and Hartlepool made sure the occasion was not too sombre. Messages were read out from Cooper's family and the club before one of his favourite songs -- Keane's This Is the Last Time -- played as a group including Ross -- who Cooper signed for Hartlepool -- laid wreath's in front of the newly-renamed Neale Cooper Stand.

It was classy and worthy of the man.

CAPTION(S):

Credit: Sunderland AFC

Josh Maja

Credit: Sunderland AFC

Jack Ross

Credit: Sunderland AFC

Lee Cattermole

Credit: Newcastle United

Ben Kimpioka

Credit: Sunderland AFC

George Honeyman

Credit: Sunderland AFC

Lynden Gooch goes for a diving header

Credit: Sunderland AFC

Sunderland manager Jack Ross pays tribute to former Hartlepool manager Neale Cooper

Article Details

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Title Annotation:	Sport
Publication:	The Chronicle (Newscastle upon Tyne, England)
Geographic Code:	4EUUK
Date:	Jul 14, 2018
Words:	1256
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