Carlos Edwards

By The Black Cats
July 20 2009

Sunderland entered a winning streak this preseason with a second friendly match victory, this time beating Portimonense by 1 goal to nil in Portugal. Carlos Edwards was the goal scorer on this occasion but the hosts may well have scored 3 or 4 goals after missing some clear cut chances.

Sunderland 'keeper Trevor Carson kept his second clean sheet in a row, but some may say he was lucky after a shot from Traore rattled his cross bar.

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce was very complimentary to the Portuguese side after the match.

"We found it tough and, to be fair, the opposition were lively," he said.

"It always seems a little bit difficult on that pitch - the surface wasn't the best - but overall it was a very, very good work-out.

"We were pushed right to the limit because they were decent and had some good players.  They have a good team.

"It looks as if everyone's injury free and it was good for them to get another 45 minutes at least under their belts.  Some played an hour and most of the back line played the whole game, which is good.

"They were unlucky not score - they had a great shot in the second half and then hit the bar.  We had a bit of luck there and I hope that luck stays with us and we haven't used too much tonight."