Wolverhampton Wanderers U23 7-0 Sunderland U23
Sunderland under-23s were dealt a harsh lesson against Wolves this evening as they were well beaten in the Premier League 2.
The hosts built up a sizeable lead in the first 45 with Austin Samuels, Niall Ennis, Sadou Diallo, Carlos Heredia and Dominic Iorfa all finding the net.
Iorfa then netted his second early in the second half before Paulo Alves rounded off the scoring with a 30-yard drive in stoppage time.
Elliott Dickman was forced into making a number of changes to his side as Ethan Robson and Bali Mumba did feature like in their last game against Norwich City. Adam Bale, Owen Gamble and Jake Hackett came into the middle of the park while Lee Connelly led the line.
Having picked up four points from six in recent weeks, Dickman had done well to inject some confidence into his players after a frustrating start to the season.
But after showing signs of progress against West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City, the Black Cats found themselves with an uphill task on their hands inside the opening 30 minutes.
Samuels applied the finished with just eight minutes played to give Wolves the advantage, tapping home Ennis’ defence splitting pass.
Lee Connelly then saw a half chance kept out as he broke through Wolves’ lax defence before the hosts went down the other end and doubled their advantage through Ennis who turned finisher with a speculative drive from distance.
It got worse, though. With half hour on the clock, Diallo dispatched a strike from 20 yards to notch his first goal in Wolves colours following his summer move from Manchester City.
Heredia then added a fourth from close range before Iorfa converted Diallo’s corner to give the hosts a 5-0 lead at the break.
Wolves picked up where they left off after the restart, with Iorfa bagging his second of the evening as he headed home Daniel Csoka's cross from the left-hand side.
From there, Sunderland managed to steady the ship with the game unfortunately beyond them. Jack Diamond mustered a rare chance for the Lads before Alves rounded off a rampant display with a stoppage time seventh from 30 yards.
Sunderland under-23: Patterson, Taylor, Kokolo, Bale, Bainbridge, Storey, Diamond, Gamble, Kimpioka, Hackett, Connelly
Subs: Young, Johnstone, Best, Connelly