Sunderland see off Spurs

Hong Kong - Sunderland beat a Spurs side missing Gareth Bale 3-1 in a friendly on Wednesday that was cut to 80 minutes because of heavy rain.

The Welsh winger Bale, linked with a move to Real Madrid, played no part in the Barclays Asia Trophy fixture in Hong Kong after picking up what manager Andre Villas-Boas called "a knock" in training.

The action was delayed by 30 minutes because of the weather, and when it did finally get going the players struggled badly with a pitch that was unplayable in places.

Tottenham took the lead in the 28th minute through a heavily deflected shot from Gylfi Sigurdsson that wrong-footed Vito Mannone, the new signing from Arsenal.

Sunderland equalised minutes later when midfielder Cabral, another new signing by manager Paolo Di Canio, capitalised on a mistake by Tom Huddlestone to skip through the centre of the Spurs defence and slot the ball past Heurelho Gomes.

Former Manchester United defender Wes Brown put Sunderland 2-1 up with a thumping header before sub David Moberg Karlsson put the game out of reach.

Both teams started with something close to their best XIs, before making several changes after the break.

Spurs started with Clint Dempsey and Emmanuel Adebayor up front, meaning England striker Jermain Defoe had to be content with a place on the bench.

Sunderland gave a start to new signing and Italian international Emanuele Giaccherini, and he impressed with some neat touches on the left wing.