Darlington v Sunderland Preview

Darlington v Sunderland Preview

Darlington host their first home friendly of the 2015/16 pre-season when they welcome Premiership si...

Darlington host their first home friendly of the 2015/16 pre-season when they welcome Premiership side Sunderland to Heritage Park on Thursday night.

The two sides met last summer in a friendly game, which saw Sunderland come out on top, 5-1.

Ahead of the game Quakers manager Martin Gray said, "It is a great honour to play against a Premier League side and it is a really tough challenge which is what we need at this point in pre-season"

"We will be at full strength except for Amar Purewal and Graeme Armstrong. All the new signings will be involved tomorrow which is a good chance to get them out on the pitch."

It is Sunderland's first game of the summer before they head to the United States and Canada for three further pre-season fixtures.

Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat has stated that he will use the game as an opportunity to give a range of players 45 minutes each.

The Quakers first game of their preseason campaign ended in a 1-0 defeat at Durham City on Saturday.

Many of last years promotion winning side featured, including captain Gary Brown and player of the season Tom Portas.