I watched Sunderland U21s beat Lyon - this first team hopeful really caught my eye

One of the distinct and unexpected advantages of being sent along to report on Sunderland U21s on the same night that the first team are enacting an assured, televised deconstruction of Derby County is that it becomes much, much easier to hear every word uttered by every player when the official attendance at the Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground numbers just 73. The queue for a half-time cuppa is notably shorter too, but you can’t really write articles about that kind of thing.

And up in the back row of a deserted terrace, one word that kept on booming out above all others was “tranquilo”. Calm. Quite why Blondy Nna Noukeu - a Cameroonian goalkeeper who started his career in Belgium and who has spent most of his professional life in England - was choosing to communicate with his teammates in fractured Spanish is anybody’s guess. Perhaps it was for the sole benefit of Jewison Bennette, restored to the starting XI by Graeme Murty and desperately unlucky to have two goals ruled out for offside as the Black Cats ran out 2-0 winners against a handy Lyon side. Perhaps he has simply watched Scarface recently and quite liked the vibe.

Whatever the reason, it soon started to feel like a fitting catchphrase for a player who could hardly have been more “tranquilo” if he tried on Tuesday evening. As yet, the summer signing is still to make his senior bow for Sunderland; on the evidence of this performance, if and when his time does come, the Black Cats will have very little to be concerned about.

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Initially, it was the confident neatness with which he executed the fundamental aspects of his game. Strong hands, steady wrists dealing with impetuous cut backs as they skidded up off the slick surface and across the face of his area; a proactive starting position that gave him the edge in foot races with any opportunistic French attacker looking to spin off the shoulder of the last man; composed distribution - sometimes long, oftentimes short - that kept Sunderland ticking over as they slowly but fixedly worked their way into an ascendancy.

And then came the saves, three in quick succession as the first half began to wane - a foam-palmed Cerberus that fended off Lyon, kept the Black Cats’ assailants at bay. One was an acrobatic launch to his right to deny the lively Sekou Lega. The second was a near carbon copy - albeit flipped, inverted - as he careered off towards the top left corner like a bottle rocket. The third, a plunging fingertip from the resulting corner, was perhaps the best of the bunch - a stop worthy of maintaining any clean sheet. Certainly, the five away fans in attendance were convinced their side had scored.

But Lyon were to be frustrated for the full 90 minutes, and while it is Trey Ogunsuyi who will make the headlines for his decisive late brace, and the aforementioned Bennette who will command a certain amount of attention as supporters continue to wonder whether he has a first team future on Wearside, Blondy’s showing in midweek should not go unheralded. This felt like a statement, a gauntlet thrown down. Will he displace Anthony Patterson as Sunderland’s number one? No, of course not. But on the basis of this, could he perhaps crowbar his way into Regis Le Bris’ plans as a willing deputy in the near future? Ask any of the 73 fanatics who were in the stands on Tuesday night and they’d tell you he has every chance.