Laurens De Bock and Joel Lynch both featured in Sunderland under-23s’ 3-2 defeat to Middlesbrough last night as they looked to prove their fitness to Jack Ross.
Belgian defender, De Bock, completed the full 90 minutes while Lynch was substituted on the hour mark as a precaution in what was the pair’s first outing in red and white since their summer moves.
Sunderland secured the season-long loan signing of De Bock from EFL Championship side Leeds United, while Lynch was available on a free transfer after leaving Queens Park Rangers at the end of last season.
Speaking to safc.com post-match, De Bock was pleased to get some minutes in the tank and believes he will only improve with game time.
“It was nice to play again because my last game was a while ago, I am happy to play the full 90 minutes and get back to the rhythm of the game,” he said.
“It was good to play with the under-23s. It’s circumstances I’m not used to, but I hope my experience could help them a little bit.
“I’m probably going to need a couple more games to get up to speed, I will have to prove myself in training and show the manager I am ready to play in the first team.
Manager Elliot Dickman was delighted with the pair’s contribution and thought they added some much-needed experience to his young side.
“They’re quite new to the club and they’re a little bit behind with minutes so it’s important they got some tonight,” he said.
“They went about it very professionally as you would expect first team players to do.
“The experience the two brought to the team was fantastic, when senior lads play down the younger players can learn from them and both the lads did well tonight.”
