Telling statistics, a glimpse of West Ham and Everton loanees and Sunderland's defensive dilemma: Moments you may have missed at Burton Albion

Brewers winger Jonny Smith scored the only goal of the game in the 67th minute with an excellent strike, yet Lee Johnson’s side created enough chances to win the match.

Sunderland’s large away crowd were sent into raptures when Tom Flanagan thought he’d headed home a late equaliser, only for the linesman’s flag to rule it out for offside.

From tactical alterations to changes in the dugout, here are some of the moments you might have missed at the Pirelli Stadium.

The stats tell the story

First of all, what an advert for League One football.

That won’t make the result any easier to digest for some Sunderland supporters, yet there was still a large degree of positivity from the Black Cats camp after the full-time whistle.

The visiting players were applauded off by the packed away end at the Pirelli Stadium, while Johnson started his assessment of the match with, “I thought we were really good.”

That’s certainly backed up by the raw statistics, which show Sunderland registered 20 efforts at goal compared to Burton’s 12 and finished with 61 per cent possession.

Johnson’s men were often slick on the ball keen to play on the front foot, yet only seven of those 20 efforts were on target.

As Johnson pointed out after the match, some of the decision making in the final third proved costly and poor.

At times there was a lack of patience as the likes of Elliot Embleton and Alex Pritchard tried their luck from distance, while Aiden McGeady missed the best chance of the match when he went through one-on-one with goalkeeper Ben Garratt.

On the flip side, Burton’s goal came when Smith took on a speculative effort which was curled into the top corner, yet in comparison the hosts appeared a little hasty to try their luck.

When the game was goalless, it was an end-to-end contest, with most of Sunderland’s best chances coming on the counter attack when Burton threw men forward for long throw-ins or corners.

But for all their neat build-up play and goalscoring opportunities, the Black Cats needed more of a cutting edge.

Johnson’s full-back dilemma

For the second match running Johnson felt he had to withdraw new signing Dennis Cirkin for the final 20 minutes.

The new arrival from Tottenham looked lively in the first-half as he made some overlapping runs outside of Aiden McGeady on the left against the experienced, but not the most mobile, Burton full-back John Brayford.

Yet Cirkin’s influence waned after the defender received a soft yellow card for a foul on Joe Powell eight minutes before half-time.

That left the full-back a little exposed as Smith grew into the game on Burton’s left - though there was little anyone could have done to stop the winger’s winning goal.

Cirkin is also still getting up to full speed due to a lack of matches, and, with no senior left-backs on the bench, Lynden Gooch was forced to move to full-back for the third match running.

That wasn’t a big issue on this occasion, as Sunderland were chasing the game and Gooch provided a more offensive option.

Still, it remains an area of weakness for the Black Cats.

A first glimpse of the new signings

For the first time, we saw new Sunderland signings Nathan Broadhead, 23, and Frederik Alves, 21, in the Black Cats’ squad, after joining on loan from Everton and West Ham respectively.

Both players started on the bench at the Pirelli Stadium and appear to have settled in quickly.

The pair could be seen chatting with their new team-mates on the pitch before the match, shortly after their Sunderland squad numbers were announced.

Broadhead, who came on in the 71st minute and had a few bright moments, will wear the number nine shirt, while Alves will take the number five jersey.

Of course they are only numbers, yet the lower figures suggest they are expected to be regular starters for the Wearsiders this season.

Youngsters step up to the senior side

Despite not being named in the matchday squad, some of Sunderland’s younger players still made the trip to Staffordshire.

Josh Hawkes, 22, and Ellis Taylor, 18, were both regulars for the under-23 side last season but have received first-team football this summer.

The pair started last week’s Carabao Cup tie at Port Vale and have continued training with the senior squad.

While Sunderland’s under-23 side were beaten by Fulham at the Stadium of Light on Monday evening, Hawkes and Taylor instead travelled with the first team to Burton a day later and could be seen exchanging passes on the pitch before kick-off.

With games set to come thick and fast this season, clearly the duo are in Lee Johnson’s plans this season

Jamie McAllister returns

After completing a six-match touchline ban imposed on him in May, Sunderland assistant Jamie McAllister returned to the dugout at Burton.

Johnson’s lieutenant was handed the ban and a fine following an incident in the tunnel against Oxford at the Stadium of Light last season.

In McAllister’s absence, Sunderland Under-23 coaches Elliott Dickman and Michael Proctor became part of the Black Cats’ coaching team on matchdays.

Yet McAllister returned to the bench at Burton, after taking parts of the pre-match warm-up when he worked with the side’s back four of Carl Winchester, Tom Flanagan, Callum Doyle and Cirkin.

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