How Tony Mowbray has used Sunderland's U21s set-up to benefit the first team and his young squad

The Black Cats have used the under-21s set-up to give minutes to some of their senior players this season, with several members of their young squad still qualifying to play for the academy side.

Leon Dajaku and Niall Huggins, both 21, both played for the under-21s team for their last league match against Southampton, while the latter, who has just returned from a long injury setback, went on to represent the first team at Birmingham later in the week.

Asked about his conversations with Mowbray, Murty said: “I speak to him daily to understand what he wants for his players and understand how he wants them to go and play. Tony will be dropping things into them for them to go and work on.

“He’s really good in that he hands over the care of the game to me and we go and manage it how we see fit. We’ll maybe touch base at half-time and make a tactical tweak or a change of position.

“So far he’s just wanted feedback on how their attitudes have been and how they’ve come through the games physically. I think both for Leon and for Niall there was a positive in terms of minutes and in terms of challenge.”

Sunderland’s under-21s side were beaten 1-0 by Wolves in the Premier League Cup last time out and will now prepare for next week’s league game against Cardiff.