Newcastle hope to poach Sunderland wonder kid!
CHRIS RIGG will have a pretty good story for his friends this morning when he goes to school in Hebburn. For a few seconds on Saturday afternoon in west London, 15-year-old Rigg — a Newcastle fan — thought he had scored the winner for Sunderland in front of a packed away end at Craven Cottage, only for it to be ruled out for offside.
Had it stood, he would have been the youngest goalscorer in FA Cup history.
Rigg gets two days a week off school to train with the Sunderland first team and will sit his GCSE exams this year. But perhaps his biggest test this summer will be to decide where his future lies.
Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray has a reputation for developing young talent. He brought Harvey Elliott through at Blackburn and is overseeing an exciting project at Sunderland. But neighbours Newcastle know all about Rigg and that may be too good an opportunity for the youngster to resist.
This was an inspired all-round performance from Sunderland, denied victory only by Tom Cairney’s fine equaliser on the hour.
When the full-time whistle went, 10 of the visitors’ 11 players on the pitch were aged 23 or under. In the aftermath of an absorbing Cup tie — which sets up a replay on February 7 — Mowbray (right) was asked if his young team were aware that Sunderland won the FA Cup 50 years ago. ‘Modern–day players don’t know anything. If it’s not Premier League years, they don’t know,’ he joked.
‘I tell them about my goal at Wembley in 2000 (when Ipswich won promotion to the Premier League) in my last game but none of them were born then. I keep telling them to go on youTube, watch that playoff final and that brilliant header by Mowbray at the back stick.’
What they lack in experience, this vibrant Sunderland side make up for with energy and spirit. They are one point off the play- off places in the Championship with the youngest side in the league
and gave Fulham a serious scare. Despite an early injury to Ross Stewart, the creativity of Amad Diallo, Patrick Roberts and goalscorer Jack Clarke constantly asked questions of Fulham’s defence. Sunderland threatened every time they ventured forward. While marco Silva turned to Willian and Aleksandar mitrovic on the bench, mowbray had attacking options such as Rigg, tom Watson, 16, and Jewison Bennette, 18. ‘it’s a new generation,’ said the Sunderland boss. ‘ the direction i give them is to be brave and it fits in with what the club motto is.
‘they want the coach to play a bold brand of football — not to be afraid, play 5-4-1 and sit off all game. Let’s go and take them on and we did that for long spells.
‘ i’m very conscious to try and dampen the expectations of this team — they are a team of boys learning to play in a man’s world.’
But if things carry on in the direction they are heading, those expectations will only grow. the future looks bright for Sunderland.