Sunderland U23s hoping to sign former Everton goalkeeper on permanent basis

Elliott Dickman says Sunderland are looking to add goalkeeper Jack McIntyre to the U23 squad on a permanent basis.
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The former Everton youngster featured as a trialist on Monday night as the young Black Cats began their Premier League 2 Division 2 campaign with a 4-3 defeat to Fulham.

McIntyre made some good saves in a remarkably open encounter, and Dickman says the goalkeeper has made a strong impression through the pre-season friendly.

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Former Manchester United goalkeeper Jacob Carney, who arrived in the summer to take Anthony Patterson's place in the squad following his first-team promotion, is currently sidelined with a finger injury.

Sunderland U23s boss Elliott DickmanSunderland U23s boss Elliott Dickman
Sunderland U23s boss Elliott Dickman

"Jack has been with us for much of pre-season and has done smashing," Dickman said.

"We're trying to make it a bit more permanent.

"He's done great, he actually missed a lot of football at Everton due to a bad injury.

"There's bits of his game like everybody that he can work on but we've been really pleased with a lot of his play.

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"Jacob has picked up a bit of a finger injury in training, he's been out for a few weeks.

"We hope it won't be too much longer and if we can get Jack in permanently, then we'll have a couple of good goalkeepers there who can help us over the course of a campaign."

Sunderland twice fought back from a goal down on Monday night, with a brace from Will Harris restoring parity shortly after half time.

The Black Cats looked to be in control when Tyrese Dyce headed them into the lead, but late strikes from Kieron Bowie and Sonny Hilton sealed the win from the visitors.

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Despite being pleased with elements of Sunderland's attacking play, Dickman said there is a huge amount of work to be done from his side out of possession.

"There are some aspects that we're relatively pleased with, and very clearly there are defensive aspects that we need to get a lot better at," he said.

"We feel they're poor goals, so we're disappointment.

"It was a nice game to watch, but from our point of view we've got to be an awful lot better when we don't have the ball.

"Fulham have always produced good technical players, and you can see they have a few who have that good football brain as well as that bit of pace.

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"At 3-2 up I thought we'd OK, but we've given up two goals that were poor."

Sunderland fear that attacking midfielder Stephen Wearne, who was arguably the best player on the pitch through the first hour, has suffered an injury that could keep him sidelined for a period of time.

Wearne left the pitch with his shoulder in a sling.

"Stephen was excellent, as he was for us last season," Dickman said.

"We saw some really good stuff for him today, and he was one of the main driving forces behind our good play as the first half progressed.

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"Hopefully he's OK, it's not looking great at the moment you never know."

Wearne's replacement, Cayden Kelly, produced an assist with his first touch on his debut appearance in U23 league football.

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