The Black Cats boss made ten changes to his starting XI following Saturday’s defeat at Portsmouth, with promotion from League One clearly the priority this season.
In a squad which had a mixture of first-team and under-23 players, Denver Hume made his first competitive start of the season after recovering from a hamstring injury, while Dan Neil captained the side.
Under-23s players Kenton Richardson, Oliver Younger, Ellis Taylor, Harrison Sonha and Will Harris got a chance to impress.
Goals from Neil and substitute Stephen Wearne saw the Cats claim all three points in Northern Group F, ahead of a meeting with Manchester United Under-21s at the Stadium of Light next week.
Our chief SAFC writer Phil Smith has delivered his verdict on how each Black Cats player fared at the LNER Stadium.
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1. Lee Burge - 7
Little he could do about Montsma’s late effort and that was a shame as he deserved a clean sheet. Distribution was solid and he made three excellent stops in the first half. 7 Photo: JPI Media
2. Kenton Richardson - 6
One or two times he was almost caught out being aggressive in his pressing but defended really steadily and looked at ease on a good debut. 6 Photo: JPI Media
3. Frederik Alves - 7
Eased his way through the game in truth. Defended well and offered plenty of composure in possession. Valuable game time and a good showing. 7 Photo: JPI Media
4. Oliver Younger - 8
Defended aggressively and made a lot of good interventions. A really strong performance at the heart of defence. 8 Photo: JPI Media