Sunderland made the long trip down to Fratton Park to take on John Mousinho’s Portsmouth on Saturday. The Black Cats went into the game looking to continue their 100 percent record, and despite conceding for the first time in almost seven hours they came away with all three points.
The first half saw Pompey hold onto more of the ball but only had a single shot on target. Sunderland always looked the more creative going forward, and were gifted an own goal by Zak Swanson on the 31st minute.
The second half saw Sunderland dictate the play more, with their midfield pressing at every opportunity and winning possession before Portsmouth had a chance to build any kind of attack. Goals from Browne and Mundle secured another win for the lads and a fantastic start to the season.
Pompey did pull one back in injury time via a O’Nien own goal, but the less said about that the better.
Sunderland gaffa Le Bris said “It is a balance between confidence and the consistency that we need to keep to create the conditions to win.
“I’m sure that they will remember last season. That was very important for them because they experienced many bad and good situations.
“Now they know that if we aren’t consistent as a team, if we don’t attack together or are selfish, we will lose.
“The balance at the moment is OK but we need to stay very consistent.
“The key point for us today was that we used the experience of the first half to know what we could change and those small details changed the game.”