U23s aren’t bottom of the pile after draw

LUKE Molyneux scored on his return from injury to ensure Sunderland did not finish bottom of Group H in their final Premier League Cup game.

The 19-year-old came off the bench at Eppleton to make his comeback from the knee injury that had sidelined him since November, and he marked the occasion by scoring inside the final 10 minutes as Elliott Dickman’s side salvaged a draw against Hull City.

Sunderland had trailed against the run of play to Keane LewisPotter’s goal early in the second half, and it looked like that might settle matters until Molyneux struck – and only an excellent save denied the youngster a winner in injury time.

But while it meant that Sunderland avoided being overtaken by the Tigers, the Black Cats finished third in the four-team group which means they will not advance to the knock-out phase, with top two Exeter City and Brighton going through instead.

Sunderland dominated the first half but failed to make their pressure count.

Jake Hackett tried a long-range effort which was straight at Will Mannion although the goalkeeper fumbled it, before managing to grab the ball at the second attempt to spare himself serious embarrassment.

Late in the half Lee Connelly also shot straight at Mannion from distance, and this time the keeper’s handling did not let him down. Hull’s best chance of the first period fell to striker Deon Moore midway through the half but his attempted lob from 25 yards out dropped wide of the target.

But the Tigers went in front 10 minutes after the break from a set piece.

Max Sheaf’s swung a free-kick into the box from the left flank, and Max Stryjek attempted to punch clear but missed the ball under pressure, leaving Lewis-Potter with a simple finish at the far post.

Stryjek went some way towards atoning for his error midway through the half when he dived fulllength to tip a close-range header from Lewis-Potter on to the post and behind.

Molyneux hauled Sunderland level in the 84th minute when he received the ball inside the area on the right and hit a low shot across the keeper and into the bottom left-hand corner.

And Molyneux almost snatched victory in injury-time when Hull’s hesitant defending eventually allowed him to get a shot away, but Mannion made a fine save to tip his goalbound effort around the post.