Nottingham Forest 2 Sunderland 0
Life did not get any easier for Sunderland as they faced up to the harsh realities of life in the First Division on the first day of their season yesterday.
But even in defeat to last season's play-off semi-finalists Nottingham Forest, manager Mick McCarthy was taking plus points from the game.
He argued: "I was obviously very disappointed with the defeat but we can take a lot of positives from the match.
"Some of the football we played was very encouraging and if we continue to play like that I am sure that things will turn for us very quickly.
"It's stating the obvious that the goals came as a blow to us but it was disappointing when you consider that we have international players trying to deal with situations."
Sunderland were left to pay for squandering a number of first-half chances as Forest were inspired to victory by Republic of Ireland winger Andy Reid.
Forest boss Paul Hart was full of praise for the way his team settled after last season's play-off anxiety. He said: "It was important for us to react the right way to the disappointment of last season and we have done that today.
"Things went well in pre-season for us but it's when today comes around that the serious business starts.
"The quality of our first goal really pleased me and to get another from a set-piece was very satisfying. I was very pleased with the way the new players settled in to play their part in the win. But it's only one victory in what will be a long hard season."
For some time Forest looked second best to a Sunderland side missing so many of their established names.
Kevin Phillips did not make the trip to the Midlands but the new strike force of Kevin Kyle and Michael Proctor had numerous opportunities to make an impact.
Kyle hit the post in the first half with Forest keeper Darren Ward beaten but it was Proctor who spurned the best openings with two one-on-ones with the keeper.
He missed both and Forest profited by taking the lead in the 18th minute when skipper Des Walker fed Reid and his neat pass played in Marlon Harewood to side-step Mart Poom and score from an acute angle.
And Reid again figured in the move, producing a pin-point corner from which French full back Matthieu Louis-Jean planted a firm header past Poom. That took the sting out of Sunderland and, although they continued giving their all for McCarthy, Forest played out time relatively comfortably.
PA