SUNDERLAND’S pre-season preparations continued this lunchtime as they braved the Portuguese heat to lose 2-0 to Roma.

The Black Cats put up a decent showing against the Serie A side, led by Jose Mourinho, before succumbing to a couple of goals in the second half.

Having watched his side only complete 45 minutes of the opening game of their training camp on the Algarve at the weekend, when a power outage forced the abandonment of their friendly with Rangers, Alex Neil opted to make seven changes for today’s game.

Notably, he lined his side up with a flat back four, with Carl Winchester playing alongside Danny Batth as a left-sided centre-half, and Lynden Gooch and Dennis Cirkin filling the full-back positions.

With Ross Stewart omitted from the squad as a precaution after he trained with Sunderland’s physios on Monday, Leon Dajaku led the line ahead of Jack Diamond, Elliot Embleton and Jack Clarke, who was making his first appearance since joining the Black Cats on a permanent basis.

The Northern Echo:

Unsurprisingly, given the sweltering heat, the game was played at a fairly sedate pace, with Sunderland acquitting themselves well in a goalless first half.

Chances before the interval were few and far between for either side, although Roma centre-half Chris Smalling struck the post with a shot after a free-kick was floated into his path.

Aside from that though, the opening period was only really enlivened by an incident just before the break that saw Mourinho enter the field of play after he was incensed by a foul from Luke O’Nien that earned the Black Cats midfielder a yellow card. Neil opted to withdraw O’Nien immediately afterwards as a placatory gesture.

Sunderland started the second half strongly, and Dajaku wasted a decent opportunity to open the scoring when he failed to convert after beating the Roma offside trap.

Roma’s second-half changes made the difference, with the Italian side introducing Nicolo Zaniolo and Felix Afena-Gyan, who caused a tiring Sunderland considerable problems on the counter-attack.

Zaniolo hit the post with 17 minutes remaining, and Roma opened the scoring a minute later as Afena-Gyan drilled a firm finish past Anthony Patterson.

Roma doubled their lead in the 80th minute, with Zaniolo claiming the goal his bright second-half performance merited as he fired home after finding himself unmarked in the 18-yard box.

Sunderland: Patterson; Gooch, Batth, Winchester, Cirkin (Taylor 63); Matete, O’Nien (Neil 44); Diamond (Pritchard 74), Embleton (Sohna 63), Clarke; Dajaku (Roberts 74).