What Sunderland fans are saying about Michael Beale, Nazariy Rusyn, Aji Alese and Preston win

Sunderland kicked off the new year with a 2-0 win over Preston at the Stadium of Light - and fans have been sharing their thoughts after the match.

The Black Cats took the lead in the 10th minute when Alex Pritchard opened the scoring with a long-range strike. Nazariy Rusyn then added a second just before half time with his first goal for the club.

The Echo asked fans for their thoughts on social media after the game - here are some of the responses:

On Facebook Chris Symonds said: Mostly positives. three points, clean sheet, a striker scores, a stunner from Pritch and Alise back. Happy New Year.

Rob Gilchrist added: Every win has to be achieved by hard work and no game is an easy one. We dominated the first half and totally deserved to go in two goals up. Preston could not be any worse and I knew they would improve, and they did, but we defended well and truth told it was as comfortable a win than it could be.

Steve Jacques commented: Good performance Good win vital three points

Jax Armes posted Great start to the year

On X, Tony Burn said: Good clean sheet, well-earned three points. Not the most entertaining game we'll see this year.

Mark Marshall added: Quality first half contained Preston second half job done.

@andyoots replied: File under routine after two great goals - very happy to win and seven points in a week has certainly lifted gloom of last match at SoL - decent and Beale fume curtailed!