rewrite this title Pre-season friendlies: Nottingham Forest beaten by Fulham while Sunderland struggle at Hearts

Sunderland beaten in Edinburgh

Sunderland’s summer optimism was diluted by a 3-0 hammering at Hearts in Craig Gordon’s testimonial.

Boss Regis Le Bris named a strong side but the Wearsiders were comprehensively beaten by the Scottish Premiership team thanks to goals from Claudia Braga, Lawrence Shankland and Alexandros Kyziridis.

Le Bris told the club website: “I think, for the first time this pre-season, we faced a team with high intensity, direct play, man for man – and we struggled.

“Maybe we are a bit tired, but it’s not an excuse.

“At the end of this game, we are disappointed because we missed this opportunity to grow again through this pre-season.

“So, a strong reminder: sometimes you need a punch in your face to say, Oh, the season has restarted – and that was the case.”

Rangers hit back to draw

Another Scottish-North-East England clash ended 2-2 between Rangers and Middlesbrough.

Neto Borges and Dael Fry put the Championship side 2-0 up but the hosts hit back through goals from second-half substitutes Danilo and Findlay Curtis.

Stoke and Wolves drew 1-1 – Hwang Hee-chan following up to equalise after his penalty had been saved. Bae Junho had earlier put Stoke ahead.

Burnley played two games this afternoon with one ending in a 2-2 draw at Shrewsbury and the other a 2-0 win at Huddersfield.

Ferguson loving life with Roma

Evan Ferguson extended his fine start to life at Roma with the only goal as the Giallorossi won at Kaiserslautern and Lyon put their financial woes to one side with a resounding 4-0 win at Hamburg. Malick Fofana was among the goals in what could be his final appearance for Les Gones with Everton hoping to lure him to Merseyside.

Celtic concluded their pre-season campaign with a 1-1 draw against Al-Ahli with Brendan Rodgers’ side winning the Como Cup 5-4 on penalties.

Giacomo Raspadori and Lorenzo Lucca scored as Italian champions Napoli beat Catanzaro 2-1.