With both sides being without a game this weekend, Livingston headed over the border this afternoon to face English Premiership side Sunderland in a closed-door friendly at the Stadium of Light.

This was a rare chance for David Hopkin and Sam Allardyce to experiment mid-season, and in the end the Black Cats perhaps expectedly ran out winners.

Italian Fabio Borini opened the scoring on 28 minutes with a glorious strike from the edge of the box.  Borini grabbed a second goal just before the interval as he volleyed home a Seb Larsson cross.

Multiple changes were made at the interval, but 10 minutes after the restart Larsson completed the afternoon’s scoring from the penalty spot after Jeremain Lens was felled in the box.

Each Livi sub played 30-45 minutes as Hopkin tested his squad, with keeper Connor Quinn seeing out the last 15 minutes of the game.

Sunderland XI: Pickford, Jones, Kaboul, Kone, Yedlin, Cattermole, E Robson, Larsson, Toivonen, Borini, N’Doye.

Livingston XI: McCallum (Quinn 75), Halkett, Cole, Gordon (Neill 60), Kakay, Mullin (Currie 60), Fotheringham, Pittman, Stanton (Longridge 45), Telfer (Mullen 45), White (Sheerin 45)

Click here for match highlights.

Share this: