Sunderland title hopes fade after defeat at Spurs

Sunderland's hopes of lifting the Under-21 Premier League title are hanging by a thread after concluding their season with defeat at Spurs.
George HoneymanGeorge Honeyman
George Honeyman

The 3-1 loss, coupled with Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Middlesbrough, reduced Sunderland’s advantage at the summit to just a solitary point as the Black Cats signed off their league programme.

Second placed United - who included England pair Wayne Rooney and Phil Jones in their line-up against Boro - have another three games to register the two points which will confirm that they regain the U21 league title.

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A hat-trick from Shayon Harrison condemned Sunderland to defeat at White Hart Lane after Andy Welsh’s side were unable to recover from going 2-0 down within the opening 20 minutes.

Harrison took advantage of an under-cooked header from Josh Robson to break the deadlock after Mikael Mandron had spurned a couple of early opportunities for the visitors.

Spurs doubled their advantage when Will Miller collected a poor throw from Sunderland keeper Max Stryjek and crossed for Harrison to head home.

Sunderland pulled one back when Rees Greenwood squared for George Honeyman to convert and the Black Cats could have drawn level before half-time, with Mandron seeing a point-blank shot saved and Carl Lawson hitting the bar.

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The visitors pushed hard for a late equaliser, yet Harrison sealed victory for Spurs in stoppage time.

Spurs: Glover, Walker-Peters, Lesniak, Walkes, Georgiou (Maghoma 90), Stylianides, Winks, Miller, Goddard (Pritchard 69), Sonupe (Marsh 82), Harrison. Subs not used: McDermott, Roles.

Sunderland: Stryjek, J Robson (Nelson 85), T Robson, Agnew, Brady, Beadling, Lawson, Smith (Wright 75), Mandron, Honeyman, Greenwood. Subs not used: Talbot, Molyneux, Ledger.