The two Premier League players got an hour under their belts as they finally hit the comeback trail and, by the time they left the pitch to rapturous applause from delighted fans, their team were a magnificent seven goals up.
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Allardyce to unleash Viduka for derby.Although winger Edwards, in particular, oozed class and striker Cole showed some nice touches, this was a night when the potential of Sunderland's up-and-coming young players really shone through and there were eye-catching performances from winger Nathan Luscombe and striker Martyn Waghorn in particular.
Waghorn might have given his side the lead as early as the fourth minute when the flag stayed down on his run up the left flank – the striker clipping a left-foot shot into the side netting from an acute angle.
But the Black Cats took the lead in the 10th minute and were four goals to the good 10 minutes later.
The opener came when Cole found Edwards with a smart pass and the winger pushed the ball out to the left wing where Luscombe crossed and Edwards stabbed the ball home from just a couple of yards out in a crowded penalty box.
The lead was doubled a couple of minutes later, with Luscombe again the provider – his corner from the left being nodded home powerfully by centre-half Peter Hartley.
Waghorn then scored two goals in two minutes – in the 19th minute he got on the end of Cole's knockdown and drove a shot home just inside the 18-yard box.
Sunderland's fourth came a minute later when keeper Lawrence flapped at an Edwards cross and Waghorn took advantage with an opportunist finish eight yards out.
Wearside League side Wolviston's first shot came in the 25th minute when John French made ground and drove in a rising shot from the edge of the area which keeper Trevor Carson held.
Then Darren Paul earned his side a free-kick on the left of the box on the half-hour, Tom Burke curling his effort a few yards over the bar.
Apart from that spell though, it was almost entirely one-way traffic.
Ten minutes before the break, Lawrence made a brilliant save to deny Waghorn a hat-trick and then, a minute later, he pulled off an even better one to block Edwards' trademark rocket shot from distance.
Unfortunately for Wolviston though, the best goal of the night came just before the break and there was nothing the keeper could have done about it – Luscombe making space for himself 25 yards out and smashing an absolutely unstoppable left-foot shot into the roof of Lawrence's net.
That gave Sunderland their fifth of the night and they should have gone into the half-time break with six but for a wonderful save from Lawrence in time added on – diving full-length to push an excellent free-kick from Billy Dennehy around the post – with only a milli-second to spot it curling around the wall.
There was little let-up from Sunderland after the break and they scored their sixth within two minutes of the resumption – Waghorn bamboozling the Wolviston defence down the left-wing before getting the ball across the area where Cole fired high into the net from the edge of the six-yard box.
A seventh was added in the 52nd minute when Gavin Donoghue, clearly fancying his chances, set himself up by stubbornly working himself some room on the right of goal before lifting a shot over the keeper from 20 yards out.
By the time Carlos and Cole left the pitch on the hour, Sunderland's second string had comfortably their most comprehensive victory already under their belts.
The Wearsiders remained in control to the end, but the Teessiders salvaged some self-respect by their resolution in the last half-hour.
Even so, the eighth Sunderland goal of the night came in the 76th minute when David Dowson was put through down the middle and drove confidently low into Lawrence's bottom right-hand corner from nine yards out.
Though Lawrence conceded eight on the night, the score would certainly have been well into double figures had it not been for his heroics with a string of superb saves and he underlined his contribution when he denied Waghorn a hat-trick in the 80th minute before making another solid save from the fired-up Dowson.
SUNDERLAND: Carson, Kay, Hartley, Donoghue, Dennehy, Edwards (sub Weir 60), Chandler, Colback (sub Richardson 60), Luscombe, Waghorn, Cole (sub Dowson 60).
WOLVISTON: Lawrence, Farrel, Burke, Gillespie, Tpotohopolous (sub Beattie 77), Robinson, Pickover, Paul, French (sub Flanaghan 70), Foreman, Kilpatrick. Subs: Mason, Blackburn, Sudlow.
Ref: Gary Beswick (Newton Aycliffe). Att: 879.
