Andy Welsh left St George’s Park with mixed emotions as Sunderland under-23s were held to a goalless stalemate against Derby County.
As thick fog played made conditions particularly challenging at England’s training base, the young Black Cats dug deep in the opening stages with Andrew Nelson and Rees Greewood forced Jonny Mitchell into action.
Derby withheld the brunt of Sunderland’s attack, but Greenwood was left with his head in his hands as Mitchell once again came to the Ram’s rescue following a defensive mishap in the second period.
Nelson then saw an effort hooked off the line as Derby held firm, and speaking post-match Welsh admitted while a clean sheet was pleasing, three points were there to be had.
“Derby were a really strong physical side and I think in the first-half there wasn’t a lot in the game,” he said.
“It was a really tough battle but the lads were terrific, they played some nice football and managed to create one or two chances – on another day I might be here talking about the goals we have scored.
“We had to be on our guard after the break, they started well and played a lot of direct balls but we weathered that and their goalkeeper made a fantastic save from Andrew,” he continued.
“We had the best two chances of the game but just weren’t able to take one. It was nice to keep a clean sheet at the other end so I suppose all in all it was a good development evening for the team.”
