Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris credited Preston North End for their performance – given the circumstances – in Tuesday night’s 2-0 Carabao Cup win.
North End advanced to the second round of the Carabao Cup thanks to a first-half strike from Ryan Ledson and second-half finish from Mads Frokjaer. The game was the first since Lowe’s departure from the club on Monday, with Mike Marsh in charge on an interim basis until a permanent head coach is appointed.
Post-match, Le Bris said: “For us, it wasn’t good because we’re out of the Carabao Cup so it’s a loss. We are a club where we want to create and improve players, we have opportunities to improve some players and this was a great occasion for that.
“In the end, maybe (improving players) will be shorter but the experience was very good. The conditions today were worse for them but in the end, they never gave up, worked until the end and created many things.”
The defeat at Preston was Le Bris’ second competitive game in charge of the Black Cats after joining from Ligue 1 side FC Lorient last month.
He added: “It was a new starting XI, it was a tough game because Preston played the strongest team on the pitch. It was a good test for us, I think that between different games this team has improved a lot and we had many chances to score.
“We have many games (until we play them again), I think both teams will have evolved. We will put this game into the computer and our minds and see if (the team) is the same.”
