Newcastle United to strengthen Sunderland's Championship rivals as Rangers boss delivers verdict on clash

Sunderland played 45 minutes against Rangers in a pre-season friendly before the match was abandoned due to a power cut. The two teams had to wait for almost an hour before the game was officially ended.

Luke O’Nien put Alex Neil’s side ahead after he converted Alex Pritchard’s in-swinging corner at Estadio Municipal de Albufeira. That goal capped off an encouraging first half for Alex Neil’s men, yet the game wasn’t able to resume when players returned after the half-time interval.

"You want to play a game,” said van Bronckhorst. “You want to give minutes to all your players to be stronger. Once the lights broke, you wait and you keep waiting, you get the news that they don't have much hope that the lights will be working properly.

"By that point it was like one hour. Too much risk with players who come only in their first week, so an hour break and play on was not ideal. We took the decision to not play.

"There were other aspects, we had to go and get the bus, we don't have much hope that it will be working. At first, we said we'd wait 15 minutes, then 30, then 45. You want to get your players strong but you also want to keep them fresh and not injured. after such a long delay it's too risky."

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Newcastle Unites to strengthen Sunderland’s rivals in the Championship

Newcastle United man Ciaran Clark is set to have a medical at Championship club Sheffield United in the next 24 hours.

That’s according to Sky Sports News presenter Keith Downie who states that the Newcastle defender is on the verge of agreeing a season-long loan deal at Bramall Lane.

That means Clark is likely to have played his last game for the Magpies after a six-season stay on Tyneside as he enters into the final year of his contract at St James’s Park.