Two Up, Two Down: Sunderland kick off their Spanish trip in encouraging fashion!

Gav says…

We got through in

Going into the game as underdogs, I probably would’ve taken a loss provided we gave a good account of ourselves, so to draw was canny.

Forest had good chances to win it but so did we, and I must be honest: when I saw our makeshift defence of Jewi, Leo Hjelde, Joe Anderson and Timothée Pembélé, I feared we’d concede, but they all did a good job at the end of the game.

In that heat, to put in a shift like that is commendable.

Rigg causes excitement

I know you shouldn’t get carried away with pre-season performances, but Chris Rigg actually outperformed Premier League midfielders.

I’m intrigued by us playing him central midfield and his pressing is outstanding.

He’s really got a chance to nail down a regular starting position during pre-season and his first two performances have shown that he’s up to the task.

Sloppy defending

I’m probably being a tad harsh here as the Forest goal was a really good finish, but I thought Trai Hume and Luke O’Nien could’ve done better defensively.

Nothing too worrying but I’m sure they’ll look at it coming away from the game.

Good attendance, but there should’ve been more!

The crowd was probably made up of 90% Sunderland fans, but there should’ve been more.

I know lads – both in Roker Report and out of it – who had their flights and trip booked ages ago, but because the games were arranged 80-odd miles from Benidorm and they were given the impression we’d be playing on Saturday, they missed it.

It’s a shame for those who paid all that money to go away only to miss out, though I’m sure for most of them they’ll enjoy themselves regardless.

Jack Howe-Gingell says…

An encouraging result

We were well worth a 1-1 draw against Premier League opposition and played some decent stuff whilst doing so.

You’d think the team that started the game will be close to what we go with against Cardiff first day, so it’s good to see the Lads digging in and playing well.

Chris Rigg stands out

Rigg continued to impress.

He looks stronger than last season and made Forest players look silly on more than one occasion. It’s amazing that we tied him down, and he’ll be a real player this season.

Sunderland’s new number five?

Despite actually playing quite well, should we be concerned that Leo Hjelde has the number five shirt?

Everyone seemed to be wearing proper numbers, and that used to be Dan Ballard’s.

A striking dilemma

The striker situation still looms.

It’s looking likely that Alexandre Mendy may be on his way, which would be a good way to allay this, but we don’t currently seem to have the answer.

Eliezer Mayenda definitely is showing promise, so that is something, but Nazariy Rusyn missed a chance he should be scoring.