Former Sunderland coach delivers 'exciting' verdict on Black Cats prospects after South Shields win
A familiar face was in the home dugout as Regis Le Bris kicked off his Sunderland reign with a win at South Shields.
Former Sunderland academy coach Elliott Dickman believes his old club possess a ‘good number of young, talented players’ and challenged them to secure another chance to impress new head coach Régis Le Bris.
The new Black Cats boss was in the dugout for the first time since his appointment was confirmed last night on Saturday as his side claimed a 5-0 away win at Dickman’s South Shields in their opening pre-season friendly. All of the hard work was done in the first-half as Patrick Roberts, Trai Hume, Chris Rigg, Eliezer Mayenda and Adil Aouchiche all found the net to help Sunderland ease to a win over their National League North hosts.
A whole host of academy players were introduced into the action after half-time as the likes of Tommy Watson, Harrison Jones and Ben Crompton were all given a first chance to shine in front of Le Bris. There were a number of bright moments for a youthful Black Cats during the second 45 minutes and although they were unable to add to their side’s lead, they did manage to impress former Sunderland Under-23s head coach Dickman.
He told The Echo: “It’s not easy at that level, it’s not easy to push through into a first-team environment. I watched quite a lot of them towards the end of last season and I really enjoyed watching them play. I thought they were excellent in some of the games I saw and they do have a good number of young, talented players. Obviously, Chris Rigg played against us, young Tommy Watson, Caden Kelly developed and has come on a lot, Harrison Jones has done well, just to name a few.
“The second-half lads, or the ones that came on towards the end, it’s a great experience for them and they’ve got to impress their new manager. There was no better way than to do that against us today and hopefully some of them will go to Spain this week and get another opportunity to show the new manager what they can do.”
Dickman also believes the win at South Shields will have made a positive impact on Le Bris himself after the new Black Cats boss saw his reign get off to a largely positive start at the 1st Cloud Arena as he now turns his attention towards this week’s trip to Spain where they will face Premier League club Nottingham Forest and Segunda Division side CD Eldense.
He said: “I think it’s great start for him (Le Bris) playing against us. It will be really good for him and it will have whet his appetite in terms of English football and I would imagine their programme will get tougher. He is in the same boat as me, albeit at a different level. He’s got to prepare his team and get them ready for a really difficult start to the season they have been given but I am sure they will do that with the fantastic staff and the fantastic squad they have.”