Andy Welsh praised his players after they defeated European giants PSV Eindhoven on Friday at the Stadium of Light.
Following a closely fought opening period, the Dutch side turned the screw in the second 45 as Max Stryjek was forced into action.
Sunderland under-23s though weathered the intense storm and struck back with vengeance, Elliot Embleton providing the deadly touch on 69 minutes.
PSV continued to cause problems but as Damian van Bruggen failed to hit the target from six yards and minutes later Joel Asoro made the visitors pay.
The Swede slotted home after excellent link-up play down the right-hand side from George Honeyman.
Speaking post-match, Welsh lavished praise on his players.
“I’m very proud of the players because they worked really, really hard when we didn’t have the ball,” he said.
“PSV are a very good technical outfit which we knew they would be. Overall it was a fantastic performance.
“It was very, very tight in the opening half but after the break we stepped up the gas a little bit and improved our play in and around the box.
“We scored two good goals and fully deserved to win the game,” he continued.
“We defended very well at times and they had one good chances but apart from that didn’t really test Max Stryjek.
“The goals came at a good time and they were terrific breakaways and two really good finishes.”
