Source: Northern_Echo
Hibernian 0 Sunderland 0
AMONG the positives to take from Sunderland's pretty typical pre-season friendly at Easter Road was the sight of skipper Lee Cattermole emerging successfully through another hour of football.[LNB] His predictably committed display might not have caught the eye in the same way Seb Larsson's quality crossing will have done, but the 3,000 or so fans that made the trip to Edinburgh have got used to being without their captain.[LNB] Since Cattermole who has kept the armband despite speculation that John O'Shea would be handed it moved from Wigan two summers ago with Bruce for £5m he has had something of a stop-start couple of years on Wearside.[LNB] There have been suspensions amid more than 40 appearances in a Sunderland shirt, but the midfielder has also had to endure his fair share of injury problems.[LNB] Just a few months after signing he was sidelined with a knee injury picked up against Liverpool in the October of 2009 and then things were worse last season.[LNB] He feels he rushed himself back from a stress fracture in his back after spending an initial ten weeks out midway through the last campaign.[LNB] And once he had helped Sunderland successfully fight the threat of relegation last season by defeating Wigan, there was a conscious decision made between Bruce and his dressing room leader for him to rest.[LNB] Cattermole, who has come through a full pre-season without any distractions for the first time since his days at Middlesbrough, feels better for it, even though he has been a prominent figure already in Sunderland's summer starting line-ups.[LNB] Hopefully that is it now. I gave my back a rest for three months and now I feel great, ready, said Cattermole, who was left with a head wound after feeling the elbow of Hibernian midfielder Ian Murray on Saturday.[LNB] It wasn't right last season and I tried to play with painkillers. Once we got the win against Wigan I had to knock it on the head and get ready for this season.[LNB] It needed pure rest so I had three months. I came back to pre-season earlier, June 25, than the rest. I have missed one day's training during the summer. That's a great run for me.[LNB] In the last three pre-seasons I have moved club twice, I had the Under-21s to play for, so it has always been disturbed.[LNB] What a good pre-season gives you is the base fitness for the season and I think it is something I have needed.[LNB] Cattermole was tenacious while being disciplined at Easter Road, which must have encouraged Bruce ahead of the opening day of the Premier League season at Liverpool on Saturday.[LNB] The 23-year-old sat alongside summer signing Craig Gardner in the middle of midfield on an afternoon when Bruce appeared to offer an insight into the team he could select at Anfield.[LNB] Larsson was effective on the right, delivering ten of the type of deliveries in to the box that he has been signed for.[LNB] There was, though, a lack of such crosses from the left, with Bruce well aware of the importance of finding a new left-winger.[LNB] Bruce expects to sign 22- year-old Derry City winger James McClean this week after a £400,000 bid was accepted.[LNB] McClean, however, is not seen as a player who will come in and immediately fill the void left by the sale of Steed Malbranque.[LNB] Cattermole said: Everyone knows with Seb that if he receives it, the ball is coming in.[LNB] It is nice to know that and he knows what he is doing when he is putting the ball in, you can tell.[LNB] As time goes on it will also be evident that you can see a greater understanding as the season develops between all of us. We will know where he is going to put the ball and we know where he will be to give him the ball more.[LNB] Stephane Sessgnon was again the liveliest forward and he looks to have settled nicely into the role as support striker.[LNB] Arguably the biggest surprise at Hibernian, though, was the appearance of Anton Ferdinand at the heart of the defence alongside Wes Brown.[LNB] There is still an outside chance O'Shea will be fit to face Liverpool, but Bruce's decision to name Titus Bramble and Michael Turner on the bench seemed to suggest Ferdinand was ahead of the competition .[LNB] Ferdinand was solid and effective until his attempted clearance hit Callum Booth and fell for substitute Ross Caldwell midway through the second half.[LNB] Caldwell's wayward effort, under pressure from Simon Mignolet, proved enough to let Ferdinand off.[LNB] Sunderland had more of the chances but were wasteful, even when Connor Wickham and Ji Dong-Won were given second half run-outs for Sessegnon and Asamoah Gyan.[LNB] There are only hints of optimism running through the squad, however, and Cattermole is confident.[LNB] He said: This summer everyone is on a high because we have brought in a lot of British lads and there is a different feeling around.[LNB] You don't know how you are going to do until the season starts but we are going in to the season positive.[LNB] All we need to find is that consistency. We have more experience of the Premier League now and hopefully we can have a better season.[LNB] Hibs: Brown; Hart (Palsson 5), Hanlon, Stephens, Booth (Sproule 73); Galbraith (Thornhill 80), de Graaf (Stevenson 89), Murray (Smith 59), Wotherspoon (Crawford 27); Horner (Taggart 80); O'Connor (Caldwell 59). Subs (not used): Stack (gk).[LNB] Sunderland: Mignolet; Bardsley (Laing 86), Brown, Ferdinand, Richardson (Elmohamady 56); Larsson, Cattermole (Vaughan 64), Gardner (Turner 64), Colback; Sessegnon (Wickham 73), Gyan (Ji 64).[LNB] Subs (not used): Westwood (gk), Bramble.[LNB]
