A hostile reaction, Will Grigg's reception and Sunderland's centre-back conundrum: The moments might you might have missed at Port Vale

Josh Hawkes’ opener and an Aiden O’Brien penalty put the Black Cats two goals ahead, before Valiants striker Jamie Proctor pulled one back for the hosts.

From crowd reactions to tactical decisions - here are some of the things you may have missed.

A hostile crowd

We’ll start with the crowd, which certainly contributed to a lively finish at Vale Park.

The official attendance was only 3,267 and one of the stands was empty in a 20,552-seater stadium. Still, the home supporters certainly let their feelings known.

Most of their frustration was vented at referee Sam Allison, who disallowed a first-half goal for the Valiants and awarded Sunderland a penalty when Jack Diamond collided with goalkeeper Aidan Stone.

Those decisions contributed to a hostile atmosphere in the closing stages, and a partial floodlight failure midway through the second half only added to the drama.

That caused the game to be stopped after Proctor had halved the deficit. When it resumed five minutes later, Port Vale were well on top.

Ellis Taylor, Jack Diamond, Oliver Younger and substitute Callum Doyle were all booked as the home fans bayed for red cards and shouted abuse.

Sunderland’s young side was under the cosh but they managed to hold on.

On that penalty – and what happened afterwards

The moment that really turned the game in Sunderland’s favour.

After establishing a first-half lead through Hawkes’ neat finish, the Black Cats made a perfect start to the second half.

Dan Neil’s well-weighted pass on 48 minutes released Diamond, and the latter appeared to reach the ball at the same time as Valiants keeper Stone.

Looking from the press box, at the other end of the pitch, it was hard to tell who won the race, yet the home fans and Port Vale players certainly believed it was their man.

Looking at the replay, which still looks tight, it does appear Stone touched the ball first, while the muted reaction from Sunderland’s players compared to the Port Vale contingent was also telling.

It took around two minutes for the penalty to be taken as a Port Vale fan ran onto the pitch without a steward in sight to intervene.

O’Brien kept his composure and eventually converted from the spot – despite Stone diving the right way.

A word on Anthony Patterson

This was a big opportunity for the 21-year-old goalkeeper – who was making just his third senior appearance for Sunderland, his first in a competition other than the Papa John’s Trophy.

Patterson will probably feel he could have done better with Port Vale’s goal as he collided with Tom Flanagan and allowed Proctor to give the hosts a lifeline.

Yet the Black Cats’ shot stopper earned praise for an excellent late save to keep out Proctor’s close-range header in stoppage-time.

While Patterson didn’t have many saves to make, he was comfortable collecting crosses all evening as the hosts went direct at times.

Johnson also highlighted the keeper’s distribution – which is a key component in the way Sunderland are trying to play.

There has been some talk that the Black Cats need to sign another goalkeeper this summer, yet Patterson will hope he can become a regular part of the senior set-up and even challenge Lee Burge for the No 1 jersey.

Johnson’s centre-back conundrum

After his impressive performance against Wigan on Saturday, it was interesting that Johnson elected to rest 17-year-old Callum Doyle and instead start with Bailey Wright and Tom Flanagan at centre-back.

Doyle’s composure on the ball and range of passing has been impressive in pre-season, and the fact he’s also left footed makes the Manchester City loanee a comfortable fit for the left-sided centre-back role.

Against Port Vale, it was Wright, the team’s captain at Vale Park, who started in that position, which naturally meant the Aussie was likely to cut infield onto his stronger right foot.

That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing and actually led to Sunderland’s opening goal as Wright passed the ball through the middle of the pitch to Alex Pritchard, who then released Josh Hawkes to score.

Yet there were also times when Wright had to take an extra touch before directing the ball out to the left for Ellis Taylor or Josh Hawkes, while it was difficult for the defender to clip the ball down the line for one of the flankers to chase.

As previously mentioned, there are pros and cons playing a right-footer as a left-sided centre-back, and vice versa.

After missing most of pre-season, Wright actually produced a solid defensive display on his return to the side and it will be interesting to see who starts at the back against MK Dons on Saturday.

Will Grigg’s reception

Some will have been surprised that Grigg was left out of the starting XI at Vale Park, especially as Ross Stewart was rested for the cup tie.

It’s looking increasingly likely that Grigg, 30, will stay at the Stadium of Light this summer, yet Johnson’s decision to start O’Brien up front doesn’t bode well for the Northern Irishman.

While the striker scored eight goals in the second half of last season while on loan at MK Dons, he was often playing as part of a front two, which hasn’t been the case at Sunderland.

When Grigg was introduced on 65 minutes, there were still chants of ‘Will Grigg’s on fire’ from the 400 travelling fans. There is still the hope that things might eventually click.

Yet the striker cut an isolated figure as Port Vale pushed for an equaliser in the closing stages.

Grigg’s role in this side remains unclear.

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