Sunderland U18s suffer heavy defeat as Middlesbrough net eight in Wear-Tees derby

The Young Black Cats suffered a humiliating defeat to Middlesbrough on Saturday with a 2-8 reverse.
By Neville Pilkington
Published 3rd Mar 2019, 14:45 BST
Updated 3rd Mar 2019, 14:52 BST
Sunderland U18s were beaten by MiddlesbroughSunderland U18s were beaten by Middlesbrough
Sunderland U18s were beaten by Middlesbrough

Sunderland started with four trialists against a powerful Boro line up and went behind in the 14th minute when Almanzra hit home to open the scoring.

Ryan Leonard pulled one back on 18 minutes and the young Black Cats pressed forward, however Boro hit back with Isaac Fletcher putting the visitors ahead in the 31st minute.

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Minutes later Almanzar doubled his tally to make it 1-3 and Boro's Kian Spence made it 1-4 just before half time.

Sunderland fought back with Connor Slack pulling a goal back in the 57th minute but it was futile as Boro went on to breeze through Sunderland with Sykes scoring on 66 minutes, striker McGill bagging a hat-trick, scoring in the 69th, and 74th minutes before finishing with a penalty in the 76th minute.

Sunderland coach Paul Bryson said afterwards: "We had a very depleted side, playing four trialists. The problem was we had no continuity, the lads hadn't played together.

"Yes it was a hard defeat but we'll bounce back"

Sunderland: Newman, Fawcett, Pye (Smith 64), Trialist (Scothern 64), Ord , Kennedy, R Gooch, Trialist, Leonard