SUNDERLAND kicked off their pre-season run of friendly matches over the weekend but it wasn’t the most conventional end to a football match. Hopefully it wouldn’t be a sign of things to come in the season.

Their friendly match against Rangers was abandoned after just 45 minutes of action in Portugal due to a floodlight failure leaving manager Alex Neil frustrated at the disruption it has caused to their week in Albufeira.

The Black Cats led last season’s Europa League finalists through Luke O’Nien’s strike at the break but a power failure at the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira stopped the second half from getting underway.

As the night drew in, the failure within the stadium could not be fixed and it led to the decision to abandon the game after just one half of football. Sunderland headed back to their Albufeira training camp with certain players have not got valuable minutes in their legs.

“It’s certainly a first in terms of the game being cancelled so that is disappointing” said the Black Cats boss.

“Obviously we were really keen to get the game on and get it played because that is crucial minutes that we have now lost along with the preparation we have done to get here. It is what it is and unfortunately it was taken out of our hands.”

It was a bizarre way for the night to end prematurely despite the best efforts of the ground staff to fix the electrical fault within the stadium. A number of Sunderland fans had made the trip abroad but were spectators for just one half of football. While the occasion ended in disappointing fashion, Neil was happy with the first half in particular as they went toe-to-toe with Giovanni Van Bronkhorst’s side on European soil.

He continued: “What I was pleased with was the first 45 minutes, I thought we were really good. We scored a good goal and I thought we created some good chances against a really strong team. That first 45 minutes was worthwhile.

“It fell to Luke (O’Nien) and he’s really good with both feet. He gets good purchase on the ball and gets his goal. I thought Dan Ballard has a really good game. He tried to get it to his team mates and how we try and play. In the main, there was absolutely no complaints from me in terms of how we performed.”

Latest acquisition Jack Clarke watched on from the stands after he travelled to Portugal to meet up with the squad after sealing a permanent move from Tottenham Hotspur. He is expected to have joined in with pre-season training on Sunday.

Sunderland have one more friendly tie to play which comes up against Jose Mourinho’s Roma before they fly back to home soil the following day. The postponement of Saturday night’s friendly means that the Sunderland coaching staff will have to reorganise the look of their training camp for the remainder of their time in Portugal.

“It’s naturally going to have a knock on effect” Neil added. “We’ve got Roma on Wednesday and I need to have a think in terms of how I structure those minutes because some of the lads today needed more than what they got.

“We’ll have a more intensive training session (Sunday) which is not the same as a match but we are going to have to try and make it up in some way so it’s frustrating but there isn’t much we can do about it.”

When the Black Cats return to the UK, they will take part in further friendlies against Dundee United, Bradford City, Accrington Stanley and Hartlepool United before the season gets underway against Coventry City on Sunday 31st July.