Sunderland were beaten 3-0 by Hearts at Tynecastle in Craig Gordon’s testimonial

Sunderland fell to a heavy defeat at Tynecastle on Saturday afternoon against a Hearts side who were both sharper and more incisive.

Goals from Cláudio Braga, Lawrence Shankland and Alexandros Kyziridis secured an emphatic 3-0 win for the hosts in Craig Gordon’s testimonial game. Though Hearts are far further down the line in their preparations for the new season, the result and performance will be a concern for Régis Le Bris as his Sunderland side were comprehensively outplayed.

Sunderland had named a strong side for the game, in line with Régis Le Bris's desire to beginning stepping up the intensity ahead of the Premier League season beginning in three weeks. Some injury frustration endured for the Black Cats, though, with Anthony Patterson and Chris Rigg still absent and Wilson Isidor again unable to feature.

Le Bris would nevertheless have still expected far more from his side in the opening 45, with Hearts comfortably the better of the sides even if Simon Moore did not have too many saves to make. Sunderland started relatively brightly, drawing a comfortable save from Clark when Trai Hume's effort from just outside the box was deflected straight at him.

Sunderland fell behind not long after when Moore played a pass into Huggins, the left back knocked off the ball which allowed the hosts to build up play down the right flank. The cross to the box was probably underhit but Seelt could only nod straight into the path of Braga, who headed past Moore from close range.

The Black Cats could have been two behind when Sadiki gave away the ball on the edge of the box, but this time Braga fired straight at Moore.

Chances for the hosts were not as frequent through the rest of the half, though Braga could have done better when again left free in the box but this time miscontrolling the ball into his feet. Sunderland created little, their only real opening coming when an attempted clearance from a corner dropped kindly for Sadiki at the back post. From a narrow angle he attempted a half volley, slicing his effort high and wide.

Already four competitive games into their season it was perhaps no great surprise that Hearts were the sharper of the two teams, but it had nevertheless been an underwhelming effort from the Black Cats at the interval.

Sunderland lifted the tempo at the start of the second half but were fortunate not to fall further behind when Lawrence Shankland found space just inside the box, dragging his effort wide of the far post. A free kick from Le Fee not long afterwards almost brought Sunderland back level, but Hearts had the second goal they probably deserved when the visitors were caught out by a quick restart. The Black Cats were expecting a cross into the box but Hearts instead pulled it back to the edge of the area, where Shankland fired through a crowd of bodies and beat Moore with the aid of a slight deflection.

Le Bris made eight changes as the game entered the final 20 minutes, fielding a young side with a number of players out of position. Young defender Jenson Jones prevented Hearts going three ahead when he did superbly to drop in and block a close-range effort that was otherwise destined for the net.

Hearts did get their third when Sunderland erred playing out from the back, Sadiki passing straight into the path of Kyziridis who simply couldn't miss from a matter of yards.