JERMAIN DEFOE claimed a double against his former employers as Sunderland rounded off their North American tour with a 2-1 win over MLS side Toronto FC.

The England international, who left Toronto to move to Wearside in January, fired in two second-half strikes as the Black Cats came from behind to secure the first victory of their three-game trip.

With Costel Pantilimon, Patrick van Aanholt and Adam Johnson all starting after missing the first two games of the tour, Sunderland produced by far their most accomplished display of pre-season so far.

Defoe came close with an early opportunity as he latched on to Billy Jones' cross, before Steven Fletcher fired another decent effort wide.

Toronto, who are halfway through their domestic season, were sharper than their opponents for long spells, and the hosts should have claimed the lead shortly before the interval, only for Robbie Findley to direct a close-range header straight at Pantilimon.

Jonathan Osorio also went close before the break, and the striker made no mistake as he profited from a mistake by summer signing Adam Matthews to open the scoring at the start of the second half.

Matthews' attempted clearance went straight to Osario, who made no mistake as he slotted home from 12 yards.

Sunderland levelled in the 65th minute, with Defoe turning well on the edge of the penalty area before firing home a deflected effort.

Pantilimon made a fine save to deny Molhan Babouli, and the Black Cats took advantage as they claimed the lead less than 60 seconds later.

Johnson's slick through ball released Steven Fletcher, and the Scotsman squared for Defoe to tap home his second goal of the game.

Head coach Dick Advocaat said: "it was a good win. The players gave everything to get a better result than the previous two games.

“We’ve had a 12-day pre-season camp with two training sessions every day, and performances will improve when we don’t train as often. But we were much improved in the second half from the first.”

Sunderland: Pantilimon; Jones (Matthews, 46), O'Shea (Beadling, 46), Brown, van Aanholt; Larsson, Cattermole, Rodwell (Bridcutt, 46), Johnson (Giaccherini, 46); Defoe, Fletcher (Watmore, 85).