Simon Grayson was pleased with what he saw from his players tonight and reserved special praise for young duo Joel Asoro and Josh Maja.
A drab opening 25 minutes sparked to life when Asoro got the better of former Black Cat Louis Laing, before a tangle of legs saw the Swede hit the deck inside the area leaving the referee with no choice but to award a penalty.
Maja immediately grabbed the ball and sent it into the top right-hand corner of Scott Loach’s goal, to net his third goal in pre-season.
Pools struck back midway through the second period, though, with Ryan Donaldson clipping the ball past an on-rushing Max Stryjek after getting in behind Adam Matthews.
With time all but up at the Vic, Maja, lively as ever, looked destined to hand Sunderland a late winner as he burst through on goal only to be cynically foul by Scott Harrison.
Jeremain Lens stepped up with one-minute remaining and he made it look oh so easy, curling a sumptuous 25-yard free-kick over the wall and into the top corner.
Speaking post-match Grayson delivered his honest verdict.
“Every time you lose a game a manager questions certain aspects of the team,” he said.
“You want to see a reaction and yesterday we worked on certain aspects that I want to see from the team and I think we saw that tonight.
“We were good without the ball, we worked and pressed them and we worked a lot harder with our shape.
“There are things with the ball we could do better but that will come.
“Winning games breeds confidence and I thought we did ok. At the top end of the pitch we could’ve been a little bit more patient with the ball.
“I thought overall the team ethic and the work rate that was questioned at the weekend (was much better) and I think we saw that tonight."
He continued: “(Joel and Josh) are doing ever so well because they have got that youthful exuberance and willingness to run around.
“When they get the ball they are talented players so they have both got a chance.”