Allardyce watches Sunderland win, West Ham lose again
Despite links to the England job, Sam Allardyce attended Sunderland's win over Hartlepool, while his former club West Ham lost in Austria.
Sam Allardyce watched Sunderland begin their pre-season campaign with a victory in what is expected to be his final game in charge, while West Ham's wait for a win went on.
The Black Cats boss is reportedly set to be announced as the new England manager on Thursday, but he was at Victoria Park on Wednesday for the club's 3-0 friendly success against Hartlepool United.
Jermain Defoe, who will hope to regain his Three Lions place under Allardyce, looked bright from the off and opened the scoring with a delicate finish.
Wahbi Khazri grabbed the second, smashing in after Defoe had struck the post, before the Englishman added a delightful third.
As he made a number of changes at half-time, among them trialist Charles N'Zogbia, Allardyce did not re-appear in the dugout for the second half and he left the ground before the end of the game as Sunderland saw out the win.
Elsewhere, Allardyce's former club West Ham are enduring a tough, winless pre-season, losing 3-0 to Rubin Kazan in their fourth friendly game - and their second in two days in Austria.
The Hammers struggled to create opportunities in the first half, with Enner Valencia scuffing their best opening, and they instead saw their opponents break twice to score.
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First, Marko Devic volleyed in from close range at the end of a neat move, then Declan Rice's sloppy pass gave Maxime Lestienne time and space to fire into the far corner.
And Slaven Bilic's side fell further behind in the 67th minute as Gokdeniz Karadeniz ran clear, shooting calmly beyond Adrian.