Elliott Dickman believes the wheels are finally in motion as his team begin to gather some momentum ahead of their trip to Manchester City this weekend.
While it’s been a challenging year for Sunderland under-18s, a four game unbeaten run has given Dickman some renewed optimism as they resume their domestic campaign this Saturday.
With a trip to U18 Premier League Leaders City on the horizon for the young Cats, Dickman is well aware of the threat they’ll pose his team.
However, the youth team coach has hailed his players, and has admitted he has been impressed with their application and dedication is both training and matches over the last few months.
“It’s slowly starting to click even though it has taken a little while to get to where we are at,” he said.
“We’ve had three lads – Joel Asoro, Josh Maja and Elliot Embleton – in and around the under-23s and first team so that has left us slightly stretched at times.
“We’ve brought through a lot of new faces like Jack Diamond, Jacob Young, Fergus McAughtrie and Benji Kimpioka, and they’ve been smashing all season.
“We are really pleased with them and we have done great in the last few months because we have trained how we have played.
“Listen, Saturday is going to be tough,” he continued.
“We have got to look at what we have got, make sure everyone is ok and then go from there.
“We have got to give it our best shot but we know it’s going to be a tough match because they were a quality side when we played them at our place earlier in the season.”
