Kirchhoff and Mandron net in fitness-building friendly.
A Sunderland XI edged past Sheffield United in a behind-closed-doors match at the Academy of Light on Tuesday afternoon.
Jan Kirchhoff broke the deadlock after three minutes with a bullet header before Mikael Mandron sealed victory in the 85th with a near post finish.
Lynden Gooch returned to the side after a spell on the sidelines while Kirchhoff, Steven Fletcher, DeAndre Yedlin and Adam Matthews were all included in the starting XI.
The Lads made a bright start to the game and looked extremely lively in the opening exchanges with Fletcher leading the line.
And it didn’t take long for Sunderland to find a break through as Kirchhoff provided the Lads with the perfect start via an unstoppable header.
Gooch did well to beat his man on the edge of the box before chipping his cross towards the back post where the on-rushing Kirchhoff powered the ball into the net.
It was an ideal start but the visitors did well to work their way back into the game, and they were denied by Max Stryjek who confidently collected a number of testing crosses.
But the Black Cats XI were resilient and did well to limit Sheffield United to efforts from range.
The second period saw a host of changes as Fletcher, Gooch, Stryjek, Rees Greenwood and Charis Mavrias made way for James Talbot, Mandron, Carl Lawson, Martin Smith and Ethan Robson.
Sunderland’s XI continued to press in the second half and went close when Robson did well to manoeuvre the ball onto his left foot from an acute angle before flashing his strike across the face of goal.
Sheffield United had looked threatening themselves but Talbot was equal to everything the Blades had to offer in front of goal.
Mandron doubled the Lads’ advantage late on after Yedlin played an excellent one two on the halfway line with Lawson before bursting forward.
Yedlin’s pace provided the perfect counter as his low ball into the box was turned home by Mandron with five minutes to play.
Sunderland XI then did well to close the game out as the Lads kept a clean sheet and earned a valuable 90 minutes of match sharpness.
Sunderland XI: Stryjek, Yedlin, Matthews, Brady, Beadling, Agnew, Kirchhoff, Mavrias, Agnew, Gooch, Greenwood, Fletcher.
Missed that one! Apologies 
