Post Match Reaction: Sunderland

Danny Coles making his debut (Photo © Corred)

Tigers retain the Raich Carter trophy.

Better game then Saturday, but the 2 elevens from each team made it patchy still.

First Half:
Bo; Lynch MJ Leon Daws; France Green Andrews Ellison; Barmby; Fagan.

We were easily the best team against Sunderland's first XI. Barmby had a great half hour, Lynch very good again, left side weak, Green and Andrews got stuck in and did really well. Safe as houses at the back, just one free header wide from a corner to worry about. Oh, and Big Cort trying to take on centre forwards with silky skills.

Our goal was great, ball through the middle, met by a half karate kick from Barmby that flicked the ball sweetly over the top, Fagan shattered the offside trap and finished convincingly into the roof of the net from about 12-15 yards. Was a decent game after that, but not a lot happened, just swapped turns at possession. Better pass from Daws would have put Ellison clear down the left, France had a real chance to go at them but stuttered, Andrews hit wide and Barmby played in Fagan but just took him too wide.

Second half:
Sergio; Wiseman DD Coles Edge; Price Ash Woodhouse God; McPhee Burgess.

Ben Burgess - back in action (Photo © Corred)

Want to smile? First touch, Big Ben gets the ball near half way, pulls wide and hits a sweet ball over the top for Price. Ben is back. His best performance since coming back, he looked on tonight, forced a good save, chased hard and was involved. Price didn't collect the pass, he chose to fall over after the slightest touch, best thing he did all night. Woeful. McPhee had a great 20 mins before fading a bit, put in 2 awesome crosses that just needed him on the end of them, Price took a thin air swipe at one when it was easier to score. Wiseman very good down the right, except for one hospital ball that got him a roasting from Ash. One moment where he raced onto a great ball, skinned the full back and crossed just too high was superb. Edge was solid as a rock, best player of pre-season by a country mile. Coles made a great start. Looks a little bit reactive at times, but did everything well, plenty of good tackles and liked to get in front and nick the ball of attackers toes. Elliott was lively, but a bit on the fringe. Woodhouse chased, harried and passed well, good for him. Ash had a terrible start but recovered to spray some good passes.

Sunderland only threatened with one header which bounced off the bar, their only effort from open play all night, they are going down. We had a lot of ball but not much to show for it. We did look very good tonight. Our 22 were better then their 22, even if they have a bit more quality in the first 11. Not that you'd know it.

Rick