Murty pleased with young Black Cats resilient performance

Sunderland U21’S fell to a narrow 3-2 defeat on Monday evening against Tottenham Hotspur. The squad included 11 of the U18’s and were unlucky to come away with nothing after a very resilient performance.

The Black Cats came back from a goal down to take a 2-1 lead with 16 year old Felix Scott scoring both goals on his first U21 start.Spurs equalised six minutes after Scott’s second and stole all three points with Yusuf Akhamrich scoring in the 87th minute.

Despite defeat Graeme Murty hailed his young side for the character shown against the reigning champions.

Murty said:”A very very young team pushed beyond their limits at times but strove manfully to try and play the way we demand. They stood up to a very very good team and we’re really disappointed for them that they didn’t come away with the point but thrilled with the effort thrilled with the commitment and thrilled with the bravery that they showed. We can’t ask for much more from a team that is that young against one of the top academies in the country.

“I thought that they composed and comported themselves in a way that should bring pride to the club because they were out matched physically for great periods of the game but they were brave enough to go and compete and they worked extremely hard and I can’t really ask for more.”

The lead coach had lots of praise for goalscorer Felix Scott: “16 years old scoring in the under 21’s,scoring two, and his second one was excellent.He could have got a hat trick as well, but he’s gone and grasped the oppurtunity really well.

“I thought all the way through the game he dealt with the ball really well dealt with the physical contest and he got his reward for doing the things that we ask him to so for him it will be a brilliant night. We wish we could have finished it off with a win for him but I’m sure that as he moves on through his career he’ll look back on this night really really fondly.”

Ahead of Friday night’s tie with Aston Villa Murty said: “We’ll do exactly the same as we’ve always done we recover properly we make sure the players know how to do that.Then we detail the squad when we know what the squad will be. Whatever we get the guys will go onto the pitch hoping to express themselves and show up for the academy and the club in a good a manor as they can and hopefully if they do that and we stay true to who we are we’ll get a favourable result.”