Luke O'Nien is relieved to be a teammate of Dan Ballard's this season rather than an opponent - after admitting there was just no way past the former Arsenal man last time they met. Northern Ireland defender Ballard joined Sunderland from Arsenal a fortnight ago, but the Black Cats came up against him when he was on loan at Blackpool the season before last.
They faced the Tangerines twice in the space of 10 days, and on both occasions Ballard helped the Lancashire club keep a clean sheet in 1-0 wins home and away. Ultimately, those results contributed towards Blackpool finishing third in the League One table - one place and three points above the Wearsiders - and going on to achieve promotion through the play-offs.
"We've been playing together in training this week out here in Portugal, I imagine because we were going to play together against Rangers [last Saturday]," said O'Nien, who partnered Ballard at centre-back against the Scottish side, before the game was abandoned at half-time due to a powercut. "I've built up a really good relationship with him.
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"I remember playing against him two seasons ago when he was on loan at Blackpool and the first thing I said to him when he joined us was that we could have been playing against him for another three days and we still wouldn't have scored!
"I remember he was just brilliant at the back. He's a great addition to our team, not just as a player but as a human as well."
Sunderland have since brought in Jack Clarke from Spurs on a permanent basis, following his successful loan with the Black Cats in the second half of last season. It was Clarke's assist for Patrick Roberts that saw Sunderland win their play-off semi-final at Sheffield Wednesday on aggregate and earn a place in the final, where they beat O'Nien's old club Wycombe to seal promotion.
O'Nien said: "Clarkey produced some magic for us last season and really contributed towards our promotion - big moments and that last minute assist against Sheffield Wednesday that got us into the final. It was good to see him, but I haven't really had much chance to catch up with him yet because he only arrived out here the other day.
"It's good to see faces who were so important last year and to keep a lot of that group together - Bailey Wright has signed a new contract, Goochy has signed a new contract, Pat Roberts has signed a new contract. Keeping those guys is so important because all bring their own strongpoints to the team."
Sunderland's return to the Championship is now less than three weeks away, and O'Nien is looking forward to playing back at that level more than eight-and-a-half years since making his league debut in the second tier with Watford. He grinned: "I've played in the Championship before - for about three-and-a-half minutes!
"But I'm looking forward to playing there for real now. We've got players who have played at that level and above, so we're looking to use their experience to help everybody who hasn't played there. You've got the likes of Pritch [Alex Pritchard], Danny Batth, Pat Roberts, Bailey Wright, and these guys are setting the standards in training.
"We've got to keep on working and it's important we carry on out here and come back from Portugal in the best possible shape, and more importantly that when that first game of the season comes around, we are ready."
Sunderland round off their week in the Algarve with a friendly against Italian Serie A side Roma tomorrow morning, which kick-off at 11am.
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- Kyril Louis-Dreyfus invites Sunderland fans to watch training in Portugal
- Albufeira loses its spark, Sunderland's Aussie rules, and a first look at Dan Ballard
- Luke O'Nien taking the positives from Sunderland's aborted friendly with Rangers
