ALEX NEIL has admitted he had to field a makeshift attacking line-up at Valley Parade this evening because he does not currently have any other options to Ross Stewart.

Jack Clark and Jack Diamond formed a previously untried attacking partnership as Sunderland slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Bradford, with neither player looking especially comfortable in the role.

Neil insists he and the rest of the Black Cats’ recruitment team are doing everything they can to try to bring in new forwards, but for the time being, he admits he is having to be creative.

Neil said: “What I did was try to put two forwards up top, because obviously we only have Ross at the club, so I tried to supplement it with another player up top.

“I actually thought we got into really good positions, it was just that final bit of quality that let us down.

“We've got a lot of work to do in terms of bringing bodies in and equally, we have a lot of work to do on the training ground to get some of the new lads up to speed so that we can perform at our best.”

Neil admitted his players were second best as they lost to League Two opposition, although he still felt the run-out was a worthwhile exercise with less than two weeks to go until the opening weekend of the Championship season.

He said: “I thought in the first half ultimately our use of the ball let us down. Our shape was good and our press was good, we made them turn the ball over quite a few times. Unfortunately for us, we turned it over far too many times and so they looked dangerous in transition.

“The second half I tried to give them a more familiar shape to work in, so they can try and show their best attributes. Ultimately, we didn't perform as well as we can. Some of the lads didn't fully understand the second shape, some of them should because we played it last season at times but equally, for the newer lads it was tough at that point.

“Our press did become disjointed at that point. Sometimes it's not bad to make the game frantic when you're chasing, but they got better in that period.

“The lads are disappointed, they know they can perform better than that. I'm disappointed, you never want to lose, but it's better happening now than against Coventry on the opening day.”