'Let themselves down': Sunderland U21s boss delivers brutally honest verdict after Newcastle loss

Sunderland Under-21s boss Graeme Murty says his side let themselves down as they were beaten 3-2 by Newcastle at the Academy of Light.

Several first-team players featured for the young Black Cats, including Corry Evans, Bradley Dack, Pierre Ekwah, Timothee Pembele and Mason Burstow, yet the hosts fell behind inside five minutes following Kyle Crossley’s opener.

Evans, who has been sidelined for over a year with an ACL injury, managed to equalise with a stunning strike, yet Newcastle defender Cathal Heffernan made it 2-1 to the visitors before half-time. Crossley then added a second after the break, before Sunderland substitute Joe Ryder netted a late consolation goal in stoppage-time.

When asked about his side’s performance, Murty told the Echo: “Really disappointed because we had more than enough talent on the pitch, enough possession, more than enough opportunities and we gave three really bad goals away.

“My reflections are there were some really good bits and our bad bits kind of outweighed those, which is unfortunate but is a lesson for our young players.”

Asked what he said to his players in the dressing room at full-time, Murty replied: “I’m just trying to be honest with them, I’m honest with them when they are good and I tell them when they’re good, and I tell them when they have actually let themselves down a little bit. I thought they let themselves down in terms approach and intensity of thought, their mentality to move the ball quickly.

“I thought they were self indulgent at times with the ball, but when we actually accelerated the game we created so many opportunities, but we need to be clinical.

“One of the challenges today was to be clinical. After having a bad start, we step on and score a really good goal from Corry. We hit the bar, have more chances. Then the first time they go over the halfway line in 10, 15 minutes they score from a corner and we don’t defend it properly. It’s a good cross and good header but we just didn’t defend it properly. Once again we take one step forward and two back.”