Sunderland U23 1 Chelsea U23 1: Teen star Joel Asoro scores as Cats earn point

The 17-year-old was on the bench at the Etihad Stadium for the first team defeat to Manchester City less than 24-hours before but was in from the start for the second string as they got their league campaign underway with a 1-1 draw.

Jordan Pickford started in goal and he was joined by Josh and Tommy Robson, Michael Ledger, Rees Greenwood, George Honeyman and Asoro - who had all taken part in pre-season training with the first team in Austria and France.

Elliot Embleton and Asoro were handed their competitive development team debuts and in the opening stages Sunderland looked the more likely to open the scoring.

Asoro had several good openings in the first half at Eppleton before finally netting just past the hour mark.

The highly-rated teenager capitalised on a mistake by Chelsea stopper Nathan Baxter after 61 minutes, firing home from the edge of the penalty area.

The lead was short lived, though, as Dan Wright netted a cruel own goal after 70 minutes to hand Chelsea a route back into the game - his misplaced back pass misjudged by Jordan Pickford in the Sunderland goal.

It was harsh on Andy Welsh's side given their earlier dominance but they had to settle for a point in the season opener.

Sunderland U23: Pickford, J Robson, Brady, Ledger, T Robson, Agnew, Wright, Greenwood (Lawson 64), Honeyman, Embleton (Molyneux 64), Asoro (Maja 82).

Subs not used: Stryjek, Casey

Booked: Ledger, Agnew

Chelsea U23: Baxter, Dabo, Colley, Chalobah, Da-Silva, Quintero (Sammut 81), Sterling (Wakefield 72), Colkett (Muheim 46), Scott, Mount, Ugbo.

Subs not used: Thompson, Christie-Davies

Referee: Anthony Backhouse