James Talbot has hailed the value of a clean sheet following Sunderland under-23s’ 1-0 victory at Blackburn Rovers on Thursday.
The Republic of Ireland stopper enjoyed a relatively trouble free afternoon as Elliott Dickman’s side banished memories of Monday’s frustrating defeat at Burnley.
Josh Maja dealt the all-important knockout blow inside 24 minutes to secure all three points and ensure Dickman’s troops advanced to the last 16 of the Premier League Cup as Group B winners.
Speaking to safc.com, Talbot, 19, praised the work ethic of his team-mates and highlighted his pleasure in leaving Lancashire with a clean sheet as well.
“Elliott told us before the game in football you get another chance,” he said.
“It is good the game came round as quickly as it did because we were all really disappointed with our performance on Monday at Burnley.
“The lads did smashing today, they worked hard and it was good to come out with a clean sheet.
“It is good to play the amount of games we have done this season,” he continued.
“They’ve come thick and fast all year but the Lads have never stopped working hard.
“Training has been hard this week because we were all down following Monday’s defeat.
“We wanted to put that right at Blackburn and I think we have done so we can all be really pleased with our efforts.”
Sunderland under-23s are next in action on Monday 6 March at Eppleton Colliery Welfare (kick-off 7pm) against Manchester United. For ticket information, click here.
