Second chance for Forrester

Trialist Anton Forrester will get another chance to make an impact for Sunderland.

The former Port Vale striker started in last night’s 1-0 friendly loss at Darlington, and manager Jack Ross confirmed that Forrester would likely feature again at Hartlepool United on Saturday.

Ross said: “Anton came in and joined yesterday.

“He started out at Everton and has most recent been at Port Vale where had some injury issues.

“We’ll have a look at him

Nevertheless, he will have learned much about his new players and squad.

We take a look through some of the main talking points .... again on Saturday. We’re light on numbers in those areas, so it would be remiss of me not to have a look.”

One player who looks certain to leave the club is centre-back Lamine Kone.

Kone has reported back for training, but, after making clear that he wants to leave the club, Ross has decided not to use him in the upcoming games. Ross said: “[Kone] He doesn’t want to be here, I’m going to be entirely blunt about it. That’s where we’re at and that’ll be an ongoing process as well.”

The Black Cats started the game in a 4-1-4-1, with Lee Cattermole as the anchor.

They controlled possession, but, in truth, Darlington were mostly comfortable and rarely carved open. Sunderland’s best chances came from set-pieces but there was a noticeable jump in their tempo when they switched to 4-4-2 on the hour.

That perhaps owed much to the arrival of some more direct players, such as Gooch, Honeyman and McManaman.

The end product was not quite there, but the pace and number of bodies getting into the box in the closing stages was encouraging nevertheless.

It was a mixed evening for Sunderland’s summer signings.

Keeper Jon McLaughlin watched from the clubhouse balcony after suffering a minor injury in the build-up to the game, while Alim Ozturk joined him in the treatment