Sunderland begin EFL Trophy defence, ex-Black Cat gets off the mark for League One rivals Wigan Athletic and Ladies derby with Durham Women is brought forward

The Black Cats begin the defence of their EFL Trophy on Tuesday with a trip to the LNER Stadium.

Here, though, we round-up some of the things you might have missed from the Stadium of Light and around League One today.

Durham game brought forward

Sunderland Ladies’ upcoming derby clash with rivals Durham Women this weekend will now kick-off at midday.

The Black Cats suffered their first defeat of the season since being reinstated to the Women’s Championship going down narrowly to Bristol City at the weekend and will host last season’s runners-up Durham at Eppleton Colliery on Sunday.

Mel Reay’s side are currently sixth in table ahead of the highly anticipated derby with the Wildcats, who moved to the top of the Championship table with a comfortable win over Lewes at Maiden Castle.

Power off the mark for League One rivals

Former Black Cats captain Max Power has revealed his delight at getting off the mark a second time around for Wigan Athletic.

The midfielder, who led Sunderland to their EFL Trophy success at Wembley Stadium in March last season, was in the headlines for the wrong reasons last week when he diverted a header beyond his own goalkeeper Ben Amos as the Latics were beaten by Sheffield Wednesday at the DW Stadium.

But the 28-year-old made amends on Saturday by scoring at the right end against Gillingham to help send Leam Richardson’s side back to the top of the League One table at the expense of the Black Cats.

Power said: “I am delighted to get back off the mark again. I think you could see how much it meant to me, especially with my wife and kids in the stands as well.

“It’s always important how you respond to a defeat - and if you take away the individual errors on Tuesday - I thought we were really good against Sheffield Wednesday.

“We feel that we’ve got players that can hurt teams at any moment.”

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