SUNDERLAND’S dominance over Newcastle United continued this afternoon as they claimed a 6-0 victory in a behind-closed-doors game at the Stadium of Light.

With neither side having a game this weekend because of their exit from the FA Cup, Sam Allardyce and Steve McClaren agreed to stage an unorthodox friendly in order to give some of their players some welcome match practice.

The move appears to have benefited Sunderland more than Newcastle, as the Black Cats’ run of six successive competitive derby victories continued in a non-competitive environment.

Duncan Watmore claimed a hat-trick for a reasonably strong Sunderland side, with two goals from Steven Fletcher and a further strike from Jack Rodwell completing the scoring.

Newcastle’s line-up was not as strong as that of their opponents, but Karl Darlow, Steven Taylor, Jamaal Lascelles, Yoan Gouffran and Sylvain Marveaux were all involved in the game at some stage.

Marveaux, who is still to make a single senior appearance this season, left the game early, although it is unclear at this stage whether the change was because of an injury or was a pre-planned alteration.