Pre-season matchday #1
Friday 7 July 2017, kick-off 7.30pm
Bury Football Club
Gigg Lane
Sunderland kick start their pre-season campaign at Sky Bet League One side Bury with ambitions focused around an immediate return to the Premier League.
As the dust settles on last season, talk of the new campaign is beginning to bubble away with the players set to return for initial testing on Friday 29 June.
But ahead of all that, safc.com have run the rule over their pre-season opponents, starting with Bury…
How they fared last season?
Four points from a final nine at stake saw Bury scrape over the line and secure safety in League One at the expense of Port Vale. Lee Clark’s side faced a challenging year in England’s third tier, losing 22 of their 46. That said, they scored 61 goals which was more than any other team around then up to Peterborough United in 12th who netted one more. But despite their free-flowing attack just two wins in the final 10 matches signalled a nail biting finish to the season. In the end, though, vital goalless draws against Oldham Athletic, Charlton Athletic, Fleetwood Town and promoted Bolton Wanderers helped them claw themselves over the safety line.
James Vaughan scores goals!
Former Everton striker James Vaughan finished League One’s second top scorer as he scored almost half of Bury's league goals last season. Vaughan netted 24 times in 3065 minutes of match action, five more than Scunthorpe United’s Josh Morris but six less than Billy Sharp’s haul.
Lee Clark profiled
Lee Clark is a man who needs no introduction as far as Sunderland’s fans are concerned. Having started his career at Newcastle United, Clark later rejoined them as part of Glenn Roeder’s backroom staff. Clark did, however, join Sunderland in 1997 and was part of a promotion party as he guided the Black Cats to the top-flight with a league record of 105 points. Clark got his first taste of management in December 2008 at Huddersfield Town. But play-off heartache was suffered in his first two full seasons before spells at Birmingham, Blackpool and Kilmarnock followed. In February 2016 Clark joined Bury and is about to embark on his second full season in charge.
Last time out at Gigg Lane for the Lads: Bury 2-0 Sunderland
Sunderland's last trip to Gigg Lane in August 2006 proved to be one to forget. Then chairman and manager Niall Quinn led the Lads into the League Cup match on the back of a disappointing start to the season and that continued inside three minutes when Arnau Riera was sent off with less than three minutes gone. Eight minutes from time Bury defender John Fitzgerald rose to thump a header past keeper Ben Alnwick from a corner. Fitzgerald, who had already been booked, was then sent off after he was yellow carded for his celebrations, but an Andy Bishop goal sealed Bury's win.
