On This Day (7th July 2017): The early days of Simon Grayson, Part One

Simon Grayson was officially appointed as the new Sunderland manager on 29 June 2017, and a little over a week later he was to take charge of his first game as preseason preparations began in earnest. The Lads, freshly relegated from the Premier League, headed to Gigg Lane for a Friday night friendly to take on League One outfit Bury, and whilst the match was to provide plenty of entertainment it was to start on a sombre tone.

A moving round of applause was held in honour of the unforgettable Bradley Lowery, whose brave battle against cancer had ended earlier that day. The youngster’s name was chanted on several occasions during the evening too, and Bury made the generous gesture of announcing that all gate receipts would be donated in his memory. It was a classy touch for an immensely strong boy and his family that inspired thousands of others.

On the pitch, the Shakers started well and were soon threatening when James Vaughan raced through in the opening minute only to be hauled down by Lamine Kone.

The defender would have been cautioned at the very least were it a competitive fixture, but Vaughan had presumably done enough already to remind his old boss Grayson of his potential – the striker signed for Sunderland six days later.

The hosts continued to push and midway through the first half opened the scoring through Andrew Tutte, who linked up with Vaughan and blasted into the net.

Callum Reilly followed that up shortly afterwards with a tight turn and curled effort on the counter to make it 2-0, but a tidy finish from Jack Rodwell of all people a couple of minutes before the break got Sunderland back into things.

Rodwell, who had ran onto a George Honeyman corner, was one of several players to be replaced at half time as Grayson looked to give minutes to everyone he could. Whilst in general mixing things up so that the senior names got a run out as a host of youngsters also had a chance to catch the eye, the most interesting starter had been Adam Matthews – back in from the cold to end nearly two years out of the picture on Wearside.

Lee Clark meanwhile switched all 11 Bury players ahead of the second half – former Sunderland understudy goalkeeper Joe Murphy being one of those to come off whilst a young Callum Styles was introduced.

Grayson made more changes on the hour mark, but it was Josh Maja that made the difference in the closing stages having been one of those introduced earlier. Maja had impressed during a recent training camp in Austria and continued to show his desire and ability here, making a telling contribution.

He ran onto and tucked away the equaliser perfectly following some sharp skills from Wahbi Khazri, and with less than five minutes to go he completed the turnaround with a well struck volley from a tight angle as he connected with Denver Hume’s deep cross.

Although it had been a little worrying to see their side fall two behind to lower league opposition, the 724 visiting fans in a crowd of 2,110 were pleased with the effort shown by the Lads and recognised that the main goal had been achieved – namely knocking off some of the summer rust.

Next up was a trip to Scotland however, where the more concerning aspects were to continue.

The Bury game had witnessed the infamous ‘butcher’s apron’ shirt in action for the first time and it was a design that would go down in history not just for being a hugely unpopular look, but also for some of the dismal showings it was worn for – and if you want to be reminded of its next outing, a dispiriting effort in Edinburgh, tune in again on Tuesday…

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