Dundee United 0-2 Sunderland match report as Black Cats earn their first pre-season win

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.

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