Reaction to Chris Maguire's substitution from Sunderland and Lincoln fans plus Dan Neil's exchange with Stephen Wearne: Moments you may have missed after Papa John’s Trophy win

Lee Johnson made ten changes to his starting XI following Saturday’s defeat at Portsmouth, as he picked a squad made up of first-team and under-23s players.

Goals from Dan Neil and Stephen Wearne either side of half-time gave Sunderland a commanding lead before Lincoln defender Lewis Montsma pulled one back in stoppage-time.

Here are some of the moments you may have missed at the LNER Stadium.

Chris Maguire’s reception

There was a familiar face in Lincoln’s starting XI as former Sunderland attacker Chris Maguire started for the Imps.

The 32-year-old has made just two league starts for Lincoln since leaving Wearside in the summer and has recently returned from an injury.

After a quiet start, Maguire began to see more of the ball and created a few chances for the hosts towards the end of the first half, one of which forced a fine save from Sunderland goalkeeper Lee Burge.

The Lincoln attacker was then replaced on 69 minutes and received a round of applause from both sets of fans.

An away crowd of 659 made the trip to the LNER Stadium and their reaction to the substitution reflected Maguire’s popularity during his time on Wearside.

Dan Neil having a big impact

It wasn’t the first time and won’t be the last that everyone was left praising the performance of Dan Neil.

The 19-year-old returned to the starting XI, after starting on the bench for two consecutive league games, and captained the side at Lincoln.

Neil’s rise into the first team has been hugely impressive this season, and his opener at the LNER Stadium after two minutes was magnificent.

When assessing Neil’s performance in the central midfield role, Johnson said ‘He looks like Pirlo at times.’ High praise indeed.

And the 19-year-old’s progress also appears to be rubbing off on other members of the squad.

At Lincoln, striker Will Harris, midfielder Harrison Sonha and full-back Kenton Richardson all started and made their senior debuts for the Black Cats, as did Wearne as the midfielder came off the bench to score.

Wearne spoke to the press after the match and could be seen laughing with Neil before conducting his post-match media duties.

Clearly there is a positive environment in the Black Cats’ dressing room which is allowing the younger members to come in and flourish.

Under-23s staff join the coaching team

As several members of Sunderland’s under-23 team were named in the matchday squad, there was also a chance for members of staff to join the first-team set-up.

Under-23s boss Elliott Dickman was in the dugout at the LNER Stadium, along with assistant Michael Proctor.

The pair will have been encouraged as the likes of Harris, Richardson, Sohna and Wearne made the step up, while Olier Younger produced a fine performance in defence and Ellis Taylor started on the flank.

It will be interesting to see how many of the aforementioned players stay in the under-23s set-up this season, receive more minutes for the first team or if any are sent out on loan.

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