Chris Rigg's fantastic attitude to first-team absence revealed as two talented teenagers emerge at Sunderland

Sunderland coach Fin Lynch has spoken about Chris Rigg's fantastic attitude after being asked to play in the FA Youth Cup last week.

The 16-year-old England youth international already has 10 first-team appearances to his name and has netted twice this season against Crewe Alexandra in the Carabao Cup and Southampton in the Championship.

Rigg, however, has been absent from senior duties in recent weeks and was not included in Mike Dodds' travelling squad to face Bristol City last weekend and didn't feature on the teamsheet during the recent wins against West Brom and Leeds United at the Stadium of Light.

Instead, while training with the seniors, the youngster has been playing for Sunderland's age group teams and has featured regularly for the under-21s and under-18s as the Black Cats look to aid his development and not push the player too far too quickly. Rigg, though, started last Thursday night in the FA Youth Cup as Lynch's side defeated their Middlesbrough counterparts 5-2 at the Stadium of Light.

"Regarding Chris, we knew we would have him for the Youth Cup," Lynch explained to The Echo. "To be fair to Riggy, he came straight in and he wanted to play, especially when he knew who it was against. So, for us, it is probably more above me who are going to manage Riggy but you have seen the quality that he has.

"It is quite comfortable for him at his own age group. We have to make sure that we are challenging individuals and if it is too easy at under-18s then we will challenge them higher and that’s the stuff we will keep doing for each individual. In Riggy’s situation, he has been around the first team quite a long time and that will continue in the future."

Sunderland's conveyor belt of talent shows no signs of slowing down. Youth graduates Anthony Patterson and Dan Neil have featured regularly for the club in League One and the Championship in recent years, and there was a hint at the next generation emerging against Middlesbrough.

15-year-old midfielder Fin Garagusaan, playing well ahead of his group, was brought on as a substitute in the FA Youth Cup win and managed to net Sunderland's sixth goal, while Lynch also fielded another 16-year-old alongside Rigg from the start in defender Finlay Holcroft

"This is what we are about at the academy, to be honest," Sunderland coach Lynch added. "We want to have a clear pathway first and foremost. We knew what Fin could do, so we trusted him and we also have Holcroft, a centre-half, and he’s only 16 and he played the full game and that is his first 90 minutes for us.

"For him to play in this stadium is a massive opportunity but we want to make sure that we give individuals a pathway at Sunderland and today proves it and you can see that even in the first team there is a pathway there, we’re not just doing that at the younger age groups, the pathway is through the under-nines right the way through to the first team."