Sunderland U21s coach explains team selection and lack of first-team players against Middlesbrough

Sunderland’s under-21s boss Graeme Murty says playing at the Stadium of Light can be great for his team’s development - despite a 2-1 defeat against Middlesbrough.

The young Black Cats were narrowly beaten in the Premier League 2 fixture, after Tom Watson had equalised just before the hour mark. The visitors’ winner came nine minutes from time when Law McCabe’s effort deflected in off Boro defender George Gitau following a corner.

“I think the nature of the goals kind of show the nature of the game it was, they were a bit bitty and scrappy,” said Murty after the match. “It took, I thought, two freakish goals to defeat us. I thought we had nice control initially, the goal kind of rocked us a little bit.

“When we had control we showed some nice parts but we didn’t do the nasty side of the game as well as we might have done. When we got back to level I thought we were going to go on and win it, but a set-play shows our young players that if you don’t do the basics really well things can come back and bite you.”

In previous games this season, Sunderland have opted to drop some of their first-team players into the under-21s team, yet opted against that approach for the Middlesbrough fixture.

“The gaffer wanted to give these boys the opportunity to play at the stadium, which is great,” explained Murty. “That will be the first time Harrison Jones has played at the stadium because he had so long out with his injury. I think it’s great for the players to go and experience that.

“It would have been better if there wasn’t a downpour in the middle of the game, but it’s just one of those things you have to deal with. I think the more we can do it and expose the players to a big stadium, with hopefully more of a crowd, the better it’s going to be for their development.”

Sunderland’s under-21s side are now preparing for next Monday’s league match against Liverpool at Eppleton CW (7pm kick-off).