Brilliant Brighton demolish Cats’ Under-23s
Sunderland Under-23s’ Premier League Cup campaign got off to the worst possible start after a 5-0 thumping from visitors Brighton last night.
Elliott Dickman’s young charges were second-best all over the pitch as the Seagulls ran riot at Eppleton CW.
There was little to separate the two sides in the opening stages, but Brighton soon cranked up the pressure in the opening Group H tie.
The visitors took the lead after 19 minutes, Alan Sanders cutting in from the left flank, beating Sam Brotherton before firing a low effort through a crowd of bodies past keeper Michael Woud.
It was soon 2-0. Woud played the ball to Chris Allan on the edge of the area, but the Brighton forwards quickly closed him down.
Sanders capitalised on the mistake, firing the ball high into the top corner of the net.
It could easily have been three, with Sunderland living dangerously, but Will Collar’s effort was blocked.
Steven Alzate, on the stroke of halftime, extended Brighton’s advantage with a good finish before he wasted a glorious chance, just before the break, to pile more misery on Dickman’s side. The visitors were utterly dominant, with Sunderland not posing a threat at all and shipping cheap goals at the other end. It didn’t get any better after the break. Sunderland’s Andrew Nelson saw a low effort comfortably saved by Robert Sanchez before Brighton added a fourth goal on 50 minutes, Alzate calmly slotting the ball under Woud. Joel Asoro and Brotherton were hauled off before the re-start, with Tommy Robson and Brandon Taylor on for Sunderland, but the damage had already been done.
James Tilley added a fifth Brighton goal with 15 minutes to go,and the midfielder went close to adding a sixth five minutes later, only for Woud’s low stop to prevent further embarrassment.
Sunderland have six group games in total, also meeting Hull and Exeter home and away.
The top two in each group qualify for the last-16 knockout stage, but Dickman’s side need a vast improvement based on this showing.
Boss Ian Holloway could not believe QPR did not come away with a point from a frenetic Championship derby against Fulham last night.
Rangers, trailing 2-0 going into nine minutes of stoppage time, pulled one back through Conor Washington and then laid siege to Fulham’s goal. Matt Smith had a header cleared off the line – and then goalkeeper Alex Smithies somehow nodded wide from in front of goal.
Rangers boss Holloway – whose side visit Sunderland next, two weeks today – revealed: “The boys are calling him Toblerone head after that. I wouldn’t have sent him up if I’d known that!
“It’s quite a surreal feeling when you see your team still fighting and the chances coming, and we would have got at least what we deserved, a point.”
Jack Robinson’s own goal and a Stefan Johansen strike gave Fulham the points.