Sunderland made their first away game in Europe for over 50 years a memorable one with a last-gasp win

Régis Le Bris praised his experienced Sunderland players for helping to turn the tide against SCU Torreense on Thursday evening.

The Black Cats were 1-0 down and struggling against their second-tier opposition, albeit because of a stunning individual strike from centre back Volnei, when Le Bris turned to Granit Xhaka, Reinildo, Enzo Le Fée and Nordi Mukiele.

Mukiele assisted the impressive Jules Ahoka for the equaliser minutes later before the influential Xhaka assisted Noah Sadiki for the winner in stoppage time to spark delirium in the away end. While Le Bris admits his side were short of their best in the opening hour, he defended his young squad and praised Torreense for their organisation out of possession.

"We started the game with a really young squad. It's a good team, they know how to manage this kind of game, they're well organised, hard to beat with this deep block and trying to seize every small opportunity," Le Bris said.

"To be fair, this goal is fantastic, top corner from 25 metres, so well done. A bit disappointing for us, frustrating, because I think we're in the game without being fantastic. The second half is a bit different, the finishers have more experience, built across many years, and they helped us to step up. I think the last goal at the very end is our belief and our connection with our fans."

Le Bris also said it had been his plan to make the changes on the hour mark, regardless of the game situation.

"It was the plan," he said.

"We knew that, this wasn't a training session for us but for these players this is the best training session. If you play 35 minutes in the Europa League, it's perfect to get fit for the next game."

Le Bris admitted his side are trying to cut out the errors in possession that led to some key mistakes in the opening weeks of the campaign, and are working to add more layers to their game going forward.

"From previous Premier League experiences, we made many mistakes in our build-up when we had the possession," he said.

"So the first one [task] was to secure and to get ready to manage transitions. And we knew before that Torreense were good in that area. I think we did well. We can still speak about the goal conceded, but it's more a detail rather than a big mistake. Then it's about how to break a deep block, and we worked on different concepts during the week. I think it's getting better, but it takes time to adjust, to refine the small details, but the intentions were there."]

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The head coach also praised the Sunderland fans for their big turnout in Leiria.

"Kyril was in the city in the morning, and he told us it was very impressive," Le Bris said.

"They are everywhere with their shirts, so we expected this. But it's always a new experience with them, and the scenario was perfect I think to keep them alive until the end! The very end, and it's a good connection we have with our fans. We built this mantra for the last three years, and in the end, it's always a process to build. It was very important to win this game at the end. We are very happy with the result we achieved and very happy with the support they gave us."

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