Young Cats out to stun Mags in cup

Sunderland Under-18s will look to put A heavy league defeat to Middlesbrough firmly behind them when they host Newcastle United in the FA Youth Cup tonight.

The young Black Cats face Newcastle in the fifth round at Eppleton CW, in Hetton, (7pm kick-off ).

Sunderland go into the Wear-Tyne derby on the back of a 5-1 league thrashing to Boro at the weekend.

And coach Elliott Dickman has demanded a reaction from his players.

Reflecting on the Boro defeat, Dickman said: “It was always going to be a tough game.

“I thought we started the game quite well and we had quite a lot of the ball, but we just couldn’t break them down or hurt them.

“We have learned a lot about the players and it’s important now we try to develop the players about the experience and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Joel Asoro, Josh Maja and Elliot Embleton are U23 regulars but are eligible to play in the Youth Cup.

Centre-back Alex Storey described the defeat to Middlesbrough as a “massive learning curve” but has backed his team-mates to bounce back tonight.

He said: “We have got to get together as a team and make sure we respond and put in a much better performance against them.

“Hopefully we can turn the result into a positive and use it as motivation to get back to winning ways, starting against Newcastle.”

Admission at Eppleton costs £3 (adults) and £1 (over-65s and under-16s). Supporters are advised that, due to competition rules, there is no free entry for season card holders.