No fewer than four Republic of Ireland Internationals at any one time, took to the field this evening in what was Sunderland’s second defeat of their pre-season fixtures. In a Stadium only a third full, its full capacity 45 thousand, Phil Babb produced an accomplished performance in the centre of the Black Cats back four. However the Spanish sides only goal was a Babb error, in a poorly weighted back-pass to Sorensen. Kilbane played wide right, and came close with a well-controlled volley in injury time, just off target.
Jason McAteer seemed to pick up a slight calf/ham-string injury, to his right leg, and Peter Reid, as a precaution took the Irish midfielder off for the second half. McAteer is expected to be fit for the start of the Season. Again Thomas Butler was lively and bursting with pace on the left flank of midfield, and he came close on 60 minutes with a curling free kick, which was just over the bar.
The mighty Niall Quinn was brought into action ten minutes toward the end, but the Republics all time record goal scorer couldn’t change things around, which is a characteristic so quaint with big Niall. Babb, Kilbane and Butler played the full 90 minutes.
Final Score: Seville 1 - 0 Sunderland
For a full match report onto the Sunderland Official Website .
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