It was far from a Bohemian Rhapsody for Sunderland, as we needed a late goal from Stern John to beat the Irish league side in Dublin tonight.

Roy Keane named five of his six summer signings in his starting XI, as only Russell Anderson missed out in a line-up that saw Dickson Etuhu and Kieran Richardson start together in central midfield, with Anthony Stokes out on the left wing. Grant Leadbitter and Stan Varga missed out through injury. Bohemians included former Sunderland right-back Mark Rossiter in their line up, as six of their starting XI had come fresh from losing 1-0, thanks to a last-minute penalty to UCD in a league game on Friday night.

Bohemians, in the middle of their season, unsurprisingly started out the brighter of the two sides, pushing forward on a few occasions, but it was Sunderland who created the first half-chance on five minutes, when Anthony Stokes' left wing cross was narrowly missed at the post by Daryl Murphy. A burst forward on the break from Murphy came to nothing six minutes later, as the Bohs defence pressured him into sending a weak shot on goal, and five minutes later, a mistake from Nosworthy let through Darren Mansaram on goal, only for Paul McShane to clear the ball off the line.

Sunderland's next push forward came on 20 minutes, when Chopra and Edwards battled for the ball on the right wing before the ball was cleared away by the Bohemian defence. Michael Chopra had the ball in the back of the net a moment later, but the goal was chalked off for an offside decision. A free kick on 28 minutes gave us another crack on goal, but Kieran Richardson's effort hit the wall, before Anthony Stokes clipped the bar with a curling effort just after the half hour mark.

Both Dickson Etuhu and Michael Chopra needed treatment after they clashed heads running into each other in midfield, in what was a real comedy of errors, but the pair were able to play on as a largely uneventful first half drew to a close.

No changes were made by Keane at half time, but Sunderland started the second half looking sluggish, although an attempt on goal from Mark Rossiter failed to trouble Fulop early on with a long range effort against his former club. Bohs had a few chances in quick succession shortly afterwards, but we were able to clear them out as we started to look like the team that had played the night before. Daryl Murphy volleyed the ball over the bar on 53 minutes when he probably should have buried it, after Stokes evaded Rossiter's challenge to put a cross in the area.

McShane was denied a chance to score on his first Sunderland appearance, when his header to a Michael Chopra cross was deflected out for a corner, before McShane's header from that corner kick went over the bar for a goal kick to the home side. Shortly afterwards, Dean Whitehead came on for Anthony Stokes, with Kieran Richardson moving out onto the left wing for the final half hour. Bohemians wasted a free kick on 63 minutes, as they failed to beat the first man.

Michael Chopra missed a sitter a minute later, when a Sunderland surge forward saw Carlos Edwards square the ball through to Chopra a few yards out, who sidefooted the effort on goal, only for Bohs keeper Josh Mimms to get a hand to it and deflect it onto the post. Sunderland missed another sitter on 71 minutes when Edwards' cross bounced off of substitute David Connolly, then Kieran Richardson before going over the bar when it really would have been easier to score.

Sunderland finally broke the deadlock with 12 minutes to go, when Stern John rose the highest to head in a cross from Ross Wallace, as Bohs' sub keeper Mimms rushed off his line to punch the ball away. Ironically, it was John's first goal of pre-season, following his less-than-prolific efforts on goal against Darlington and Scunthorpe in our first week of pre-season games.

Four minutes later, Stern John reverted to type, as he battled to get the ball off of Rossiter, before spooning the ball just over the bar as our collection of bad misses continued to grow, but John's one good effort was enough as Sunderland picked up their second victory of the pre-season.

Sunderland: Fulop, Halford, Nosworthy, McShane, Wallace, Edwards, Richardson (sub 75, Collins), Etuhu, Stokes (sub 61, Whitehead), D Murphy (sub 65, Connolly), Chopra (sub 73, John). Subs: Ward, Anderson, Donoghue, Kay, Miller, Yorke.

Bohemians: B Murphy (sub 30, Mimms), Rossiter, Powell, Hunt (sub 50, McCann), Burns (sub 80, Rice), Pooley (sub 66, Rafferty), McGinley (sub 73, Moran), Fenn (sub 79, Harkin), Mansaram (sub 70, Kelly), O'Donnell (sub 87, Brady), Richardson (sub 56, Kingsberry). Subs: Moran, Mooney, Harkin, Ryan.