Owen Gamble has urged his team-mates to dust themselves down quickly from the disappointment of Wednesday’s FA Youth Cup defeat.
Sunderland under-18s exited the historic youth competition at the hands of Wear-Tyne rivals Newcastle United after a seven-goal thriller at Eppleton Colliery Welfare.
The Magpies gained a two-goal lead inside 20 minutes before Josh Maja halved the deficit early in the second period.
From there it was one way traffic as the Black Cats peppered the visitors goal before Adam Wilson strode forward and delivered a sucker punch to restore Newcastle’s two-goal cushion.
Maja and Elliot Embleton quickly cancelled that out as the pendulum swung back in Sunderland’s favour before Lewis McNall sealed victory with two minutes to spare for Newcastle.
Speaking to safc.com, full-back Gamble shared his disappointment but insisted his team-mates must use their pain and anguish to muster a performance against Manchester United on Saturday in the U18 Premier League.
“It’s the worst I have personally ever felt because we got so far, we came back into it and in the end it counted for nothing,” he said.
“It’s hard to take because I thought we were the better team and we did well throughout to make it hard for them.
“Things like this happen in football and now it’s all about making sure we bounce back and turn our attentions to Man Utd in the league.
“We looked like we could’ve won the game, it hurts but what’s important now is that we recover well and prepare for Saturday.”
