Lewis keen to Grab his opportunity

LEWIS Grabban was pleased to start forming an understanding with James Vaughan - but the centre-forward says Sunderland now have to form a stronger partnership with their fans as they set their sights on promotion.

Grabban and Vaughan made their competitive debuts in Friday’s 1-1 draw with Derby County.

The man on loan from Bournemouth scored the Wearsiders’ first goal of the campaign courtesy of a 42nd-minute penalty.

Vaughan could not find the net, missing the target with a good chance early in the second half, but his industry helped Grabban.

Grabban said: “Vaughany and I worked well and formed a good partnership, one dropping in and helping out defensively.

“Hopefully, we can build on that and have a lot of success this season.

“It is nice to score a goal on your debut but overall the most important thing is we played well collectively.

“Unfortunately we missed the penalty against Celtic (taken by Vaughan) but that happens and we have enough players in the squad who can step up and take penalties. This time it was me and I am just happy I scored.”

The strikers’ willingness to drop into midfield allowed Sunderland to field a 4-4-2 formation against the Rams’ 4-2-3-1.

In the pair’s only previous game together, against Celtic in pre-season, Grabban had been slightly wasted wide on the right.

Friday’s performance was a world away from that 5-0 friendly defeat and the crowd responded to the much greater effort.

Giving that encouragement was clearly a message new manager Simon Grayson had forced home to his players.

Grabban added: “It is a new season, a new chapter and it is going to be near enough a new team.

“We are going to do things a bit differently this season – work hard for each other and the fans and hopefully results will follow.

“They (the fans) were pleased with what they saw in terms of the work ethic.

“Hopefully we can build a nice partnership with them and take it on from there.

“I think Sunderland are the biggest team in the division and it is a good opportunity for me to be part of the club. “