SUNDERLAND IN FINE FORM WITH BIG WIN
Sunderland Broom hit six of the best as they saw off Marton Furness 6-3 in a fine display in the North East League’s Premier Division.
Sunderland started strongly, pinning the visitors back in their half. Even when Furness broke, the hosts looked solid in defence.
The hosts finally scored after finding space down the left, with Sam Evans pushing forward from left-back. A pass through the middle found Andy Wilson, who collected and scored with a classic tap-in under the keeper.
The visitors levelled when Sunderland keeper Richard Whitham’s clearance was picked up by a forward, who pushed in a soft equaliser.
Sunderland were stunned to fall behind in the second half when a short corner beat Chris Brown on the goal line.
The lead didn’t last long, though, and a superb onetwo by Sam Middleton and Donald Kernohan saw Sunderland break into the D. Middleton rounded the keeper and set up Kernohan for a smart finish.
The turnaround continued quickly with a third home goal, Graeme Humble striking into the D and Anthony Dixon getting a skilful touch past the keeper.
A superb spell of pressure brought a fourth goal. Middleton rode several fouls in the Furness area before firing brilliantly into the bottom corner.
The fifth goal came when Andy Wilkinson went through one on one with the keeper, only to be hacked down from behind. Middleton stepped up to take the flick and a screamer of a shot went straight down the middle.
The pressure was relentless and Sunderland’s sixth soon followed, with Graeme Humble burying his shot into the top corner.
The game ended in disarray as Sunderland’s Chris Brown was sent off for a technical foul. Furness claimed another goal back, but it was no more than a consolation.
Sunderland seconds travelled to their local rivals Durham City and were outclassed 7-1.
The Wearsiders started poorly and were hampered by an early injury to midfielder Steve Crute. Durham took advantage, particularly on the break, and quickly went 3-0 up.
In the second half, Sunderland’s young striker Robbie Potts scored a fine goal from a fierce strike but it was only a consolation.
Sunderland’s man-of-thematch was Adam Pawley who had a fine game.
Sunderland/Durham Over-50s put on an excellent performance in the first round of the National Over50s Trophy but lost out to a strong Tynemouth team on penalty strokes.
Sunderland were very unlucky not to have gone through, having created a number of clear scoring opportunities in both halves.
The Sunderland veterans of Neil Sparrowhawk, Jim Gardner, Paul Baldesera and Stewart Douglas all played well in defence and restricted the Tynemouth forwards to very few scoring opportunities. The game ended 0-0 and Tynemouth won on penalty strokes.
Sunderland/Durham now go into the Over-50s Plate competition.