Hull Men’s 4th’s 2-3 Sunderland Men’s 2nd’s

Sunderland 2nd’s were victorious at the Uni of Hull Sport Park on Wednesday afternoon despite a nervy end to the game.

Sotiris Kyriakou led the line for the visitors, with Jack Murphy making an appearance as a second-half substitute. Sunderland goalkeeper Paul Wright returned to the starting lineup, having missed the previous game against Northumbria through injury.

The hosts got off to the perfect start when they opened the scoring in the first five minutes of proceedings. A lofted through ball landed perfectly in the path of their number nine, who knocked the ball into the corner of the Sunderland net to make it 1-0 Hull 4th’s.

Sunderland carved out an opportunity of their own just five minutes later when Luca whipped a corner into a dangerous area but there were no Sunderland men there to provide the finishing touches.

Sunderland continued to apply the pressure when James Noble fired the ball down the left-hand side for Kyriakou, who crossed to Murphy but his strike cannoned against the crossbar and fell behind for a corner. Just two minutes later Sunderland found their equaliser as Anth Deanes threaded a clever ball into Kyriakou, who fired firmly past the Hull ‘keeper from distance to make it 1-1.

It was almost a sudden turnaround when another deep corner from Luca found Jack Bannister at the back-post but he could only nod over the Hull crossbar.

The pressure continued to mount on Hull when Matthew Chapman found the run of Murphy, who’s heavy touch just got the better of him as the ‘keeper charged him down to retrieve possession. Kyriakou had the final opportunity of the first-half but his low free-kick was deflected away from goal, meaning the sides went in level.

Sunderland started the second half promisingly, with a large amount of possession on the edge of the opposing box but not a lot of attempts on goal to show for it.
That was until Murphy tried his luck from twenty-five yards and got the goal that he had so clearly deserved, giving Sunderland a 2–1 lead.

Chapman had the chance to wrap up the win for Sunderland but his dinked effort drifted just wide of the post. Not long after, Sunderland did find their third of the day as the ball found its way to Bannister inside the box and he had the simple job of tucking the ball into an empty net.

The job was far from over though as Hull found a virtually instant response from a set-piece, with the ball headed past Wright via the upper-side of the post to make it 3-2 with just over five minutes remaining. It was a very nervy last few minutes for Sunderland as Hull threw everyone forward but they were unable to find an equaliser.

This would be a vital three points for Sunderland Second’s in what was a hard fought victory in the end.