Match Preview: It’s the traditional double-header opener, but not as we know it!

The wait is gone, as the Lads return to play with what should have been a traditional double-header, but all eyes are now on the first team’s match at South Shields.

With Wembley still seeming like yesterday, we prepare for the first pre-season action when the Lads return. With World Club Cups and the ongoing gossip mill about who we will sign, as well as the excitement of who we have already signed, it doesn’t feel like we’ve reached the end of the rollercoaster that is Sunderland AFC support.

It’s the first time in 18 years that we’ve looked forward to a season in the Premier League after promotion, and nine years since we’ve looked forward to a season in the top flight in general – although looking forward to it probably wasn’t the right way to look at it before that season under David Moyes.

But, here we are, back in the big leagues, and pre-season begins today, as it has for the last several years, with a supposed doubleheader that was beginning to become a fixture in people’s summers, with them making sure they had a pass out for the day.

Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images

Back-to-back friendlies against nearby competition with the option to go in between and have a few beers on the way was ideal, but at the end of the day this week, everything changed due to the condition of the Gateshead surface.

As a result, Sunderland’s development squad will face Gateshead at Hebburn Sports & Social Ground at 12.30pm, while the first team will play South Shields at the 1st Cloud Arena at 4pm. This could imply that players get less playing time if there is a larger pool of players contending for a position on the field in a single game, rather than two, as in past years.

As in past years, we’re all excited to watch the new recruits, recalling two years ago when Hemir equalised for the Lads and we decided he’d be the one to score 25 goals the next season – a good lesson in not passing judgement on players during pre-season.

---

Played for all three…

Ben Clark

Clark rose through the ranks at Sunderland before making his League Cup debut in a second-round 2nd leg match at Kenilworth Road. On the night, he started with Paul Butler in the centre of the defence, and Butler scored in a 2-1 victory to win the tie 5-1 on aggregate. After battling to establish a regular place in the matchday squad, Clark started the 2004-05 season in the starting lineup against Peter Reid’s Coventry City.

The game ended in a 2-0 defeat and was Clark’s final league start before going to Hartlepool United, where he would spend six years before joining Gateshead in 2010.

Another six years with the Heed included Clark becoming co-caretaker manager alongside Micky Cummins in 2015 and in 2016-17 he played for both Gateshead and South Shields.