Robbie Stockdale believes Sunderland’s involvement in the Checkatrade Trophy has provided the perfect learning curve for a host of the club’s youngsters.
The Black Cats’ inaugural EFL Trophy venture came to a halt last night as Wolverhampton Wanderers booked their place in the next round following a dramatic penalty shootout.
At one stage though it looked promising for Stockdale’s side as Tom Beadling rifled home a thunderous strike on 17 minutes to cancel out Bright Enobakhare’s deadly opener.
Joel Asoro and Josh Maja squandered a host of chances as the Lads ended the first period on the front foot but Wolves rallied back and could have easily won it themselves had it not been for some fine saves from Vito Mannone.
However, as the match went down to penalties the Italian stopper was unable to reproduce his famous Old Trafford heroics and Wolves secured their route into the next round.
Speaking to safc.com, Stockdale admitted while it was disappointing to be knocked out, the competitive nature of the competition has provided an ideal learning experience for the club's youth prospects.
“We have got to give Wolves credit because they dealt with our problems,” he said.
“Asoro was very good in the first half and in the second period he didn’t really get into the game and that was similar for a lot of our forward players.
“Football is never going to go all your own way and the opposition are always going to stop you which Wolves did successfully.
“We couldn’t figure out an answer on the pitch to that but we never got going in the second half.
“The games we played in the group stages were really good for us,” he continued.
“We will speak very positively about the experience gained in the competition because it has been a fantastic learning curve for our young players.”
