CATS’ YOUNGSTERS ARE DENIED LATE ON
SUNDERLAND U18S SUFFER DEFEAT TO NEWCASTLE AFTER TWO LATE GOALS
Paul Bryson believes Sunderland Under-18s’ derby defeat to Newcastle United was a ‘bit of a travesty’ - after the Black Cats were on the end of a late comeback.
Josh Baggs’ second half headerlookedtohavehanded the Wearsiders a well-earned victory after a dominant performance which put to bed their 10-0 defeat at Everton duringthepreviousweek.But twogoalsintwominutesfrom Josh Harrison and Joe White handedtheMagpiesavictoryand left Bryson deflated.
“A lot of questions have been asked about the lads after last week’s big, big disappointment,” he admitted.
“But I’m really pleased with the way they responded. If I’m being perfectly honest, I wouldhavebeendisappointed to draw the game. To lose the game...it’sabitofatravestyreally.Fortheladsthatis,notme, because of how hard they’ve worked this week. You have to see it out and unfortunately, on this occasion, we couldn’t do that.”
The Black Cats were without seven key players for the visit of their local rivals - but Bryson was keen to avoid using that as an excuse.
“I’ve got an injury list the length of my arm - not that it’s an excuse - and there’s seven players missing today who would probably feature in some way. A large percentage of them would be in the starting 11.”
Newcastle chief Neil Winskill admitted his side were somewhat fortunate to win the game - and expressed his disappointmentatthewayhis side performed at the Academy of Light.
“Isupposeifyou’regoingto win a game, winning it in the later stages like that is nice,” he said. “I couldn’t see it happening, if I’m honest, halfway through the second half.
“Fair play to Sunderland after the result they had last week. They showed real togetherness and were up and at us - which we expected.
“We’re disappointed with how we’ve played overall, but in these type of games it’s always nice to win.”
*Sunderland Under-23s remain rooted to the foot of the Premier League 2 Division 2 table after a 1-0 defeat to Swansea in South Wales.
Elliot Dickman’s side have collected just one point from their opening six fixtures but fieldedastrongsideincluding Bali Mumba, Ruben Sammut and Lee Connelly against The Jacks.
Goalkeeper Anthony Patterson kept the scores level in the first 30 minutes with a stunning save to tip the ball onto the crossbar. Sunderland couldn’t hold out, however. Brandon Cooper put the hosts in front with half-time seconds away.
Dickman’s men couldn’t rally and failed to equalise and Swansea nearly added a second, only to be brilliantly denied twice by Patterson. Sunderland finished the game with 10 men as Cieran Dunne was dismissed for kicking out at Dan Williams in stoppage time.