Elliott Dickman pulled no punches and insisted his players must do better following Saturday’s defeat at home to Everton.
Sunderland under-18s began brightly but conceded twice in as many minutes after failing to deal with a storm of intense pressure.
Lee Connelly had an early goal chalked off for offside, and from there the Black Cats never really recovered as the Toffees stamped their authority on the fixture.
Fraser Hornby had an effort blocked by Brandon Taylor before being denied by the post moments later. However, with 36 minutes on the clock, Hornby’s incisive through ball allowed Jack Kiersey to open the scoring.
Without having a moment to steady the ship, Everton continued to ride their wave of pressure and added a second as Dan Bramhall’s surging run saw him finish low into the bottom corner.
Speaking post-match, Dickman delivered an honest assessment.
“We tried something different in the first half and there were little bits that didn’t really work out for us,” he continued.
“We are disappointed with the two goals we gave away because I felt one or two of the players could’ve given a little bit more.
“We changed it in the second half but we weren’t really able to threaten their goal.
“We played some good stuff and we were a bit more competitive but just couldn’t really find that one chance to get ourselves back in the game,” he continued.
“We needed to get a goal but we were stopped in our tracks because young Fergus McAughtrie picked up an injury which slowed the game down.
“Our momentum was good but from there it was difficult to really create much. They defended well but we have to do better than that.”
