Phil Parkinson was delighted by his side’s showing tonight as they blew Tranmere Rovers away in the first 45.
Duncan Watmore was the man at the centre of the action, opening the deadlock before turning provider for Sunderland’s next two goals.
The winger powered his way through Rovers’ ranks before being clipped to the ground on the edge of the box. Chris Maguire stepped up for the free-kick and sent it crashing past Scott Davies two minutes after Watmore’s opener.
Lynden Gooch then tapped home a third after Watmore did well to get to the byline and set-up the American for the easiest of finishes.
Late goals from Will Grigg and then Luke O’Nien completed the scoring in the second 45 as Sunderland recorded a big win and their first clean sheet of the season.
Hear from Parkinson as he recorded his first win as Sunderland manager by clicking play in the panel above.
“It’s a big win for us and getting a clean sheet too is very important,” he said.
“Some of the goals we scored tonight were excellent and I was so pleased to get in at the break 3-0 up.
“It was a ruthless, professional performance and I feel we got that today – it’s a great win for us”
He continued: “When we got forward to committed players in the box and like I said at the weekend it’s about turning the quality of our forward play into goals.
“We needed to be more effective and I thought we did that tonight.”