Sunderland went down to a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar strike as Ajax won 1-0 on Wearside in a friendly to honour the Black Cats' 1973 FA Cup heroes.Huntelaar's second-half effort proved the difference on Sunday as Ajax continued their pre-season preparations with a narrow win.

The Holland forward, linked with a move to England over the summer, fired home the game's only goal nine minutes into the second period after two good saves from Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

Roy Keane's side will consider themselves unlucky to have lost after bossing possession, particularly in the latter stages, but the closest they came to a goal was a first-half Daryl Murphy effort which struck the outside of the post.

A crowd of 19,768 turned out for the match - part of the celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of Sunderland's victorious FA Cup run - and gave a warm pre-kick-off reception to the 1973 heroes.

Both managers included three of their summer signings with Pascal Chimbonda, Teemu Tainio and El-Hadji Diouf starting for the hosts and Oleguer Presas, Ismail Aissati and Dario Cvitanich lining up for the visitors.

Ajax, making their second trip to the Stadium of Light after providing the opposition for the stadium's opening encounter 11 years ago, mustered the first real chance in the seventh minute, when Gordon instinctively threw out a right hand to keep out Huntelaar's close-range stab after good work down the left by Luis Suarez.

The Black Cats' first sight of goal came in the 16th minute when former Bolton striker Diouf slid a neat ball through for Dean Whitehead but his low shot skidded wide of Maarten Stekelenburg's post.

Ten minutes later Whitehead again tried his luck after cutting in from the left, but curled his right-footed shot just wide.

Cvitanich - a recent acquisition from Argentinian side Banfield - found himself enough space to try a shot from 20 yards nine minutes before half-time but it had neither the power nor accuracy to test Gordon.

Three minutes before the interval the hosts came within a whisker of taking the lead when Murphy, again supplied by the influential Diouf, curled a left-footed strike which just skimmed the outside of the left-hand upright.

Steed Malbranque, the third Tottenham player to move to Wearside this summer, was handed his Sunderland debut as a half-time replacement for Murphy.

The Frenchman was powerless to prevent his side going behind in the 54th minute, however.

Rasmus Lindgren's initial effort from the left was saved by Gordon, as was Huntelaar's follow-up, but the rebound fell at the feet of the Holland frontman a second time and he lashed high into the net.

Just before the hour mark a surging run by Whitehead down the right culminated in a blast which Stekelenburg managed to block.

Both managers then opted to make changes, Keane replacing Whitehead with Grant Leadbitter and Van Basten introducing Miralem Sulejmani - the teenage Serbia international who became the most expensive player in Eredivisie history when he joined Ajax - in place of Huntelaar.

Five minutes later Malbranque fed former Spurs team-mate Chimbonda, who did well to get his cross in from the right but the Ajax defence scrambled it away.

Diouf then produced a fine save from Stekelenburg with a 76th-minute free-kick from the edge of the area. The Holland international flung himself to his left to tip over the bar.

Tainio, who had a busy afternoon breaking up Ajax's flow in midfield, had a long-range effort blocked by Gabri before being substituted and Michael Chopra - one of those brought on by Keane - slotted home in vain late on after having been given

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