Sunderland lose opening pre-season game (From Durham Times)

Sunderland lose opening pre-season game

3:16pm Thursday 19th July 2012 in Sport By Scott Wilson

SUNDERLAND'S opening pre-season game ended in defeat today as they were beaten 1-0 by South Korean side Seongnam in Suwon.

Kieran Richardson , Connor Wickham and Craig Gardner all struck the woodwork as a strong Black Cats line-up failed to find the target in the opening match of the Peace Cup.

Richardson struck the woodwork from close range in the 16th minute, but Sunderland fell behind on the half-hour mark when Everton Santos slotted the ball past Simon Mignolet.

Carlos Cuellar replaced Titus Bramble to make his first appearance since joining as a free agent earlier this month, but Martin O'Neill's men were unable to claim an equaliser despite dominating the second half.

Wickham was thwarted by a fine save from the Seongnam goalkeeper before Gardner struck the crossbar with a 70th-minute free-kick.

SUNDERLAND: Mignolet, Brown (Deacon 72), Bramble (Cuellar 63), Turner, Colback, Meyler, Cattermole, Gardner, Richardson (Adams 72), Campbell (Noble 79), Wickham.