George Honeyman has paid tribute to Sunderland’s endeavour after they carved out a 1-0 win at Hartlepool United in the Checkatrade Trophy.
A youthful Black Cats side produced an exhilarating display as Tom Beadling, Josh Maja and Honeyman forced saves from Adam Bartlett in the opening stages.
Maja then had an effort ruled out for offside in the 42nd minute after good combination play from Honeyman and Billy Jones down the right flank.
Sunderland continued to pile forward in the second period as Maja again saw and attempt struck off before the front-man provided the perfect assist for Donald Love as he handed the visitors the winning goal at Victoria Park.
Speaking to safc.com, the 21-year-old praised his team-mates for their never-say-die attitude to keep plugging away and to eventually earn a deserved victory.
“We went there looking to win because we want to go through to the next round and we needed to go there and win," he said.
"After losing on penalties in our last game we wanted to bounce back. To do that and to put a really good performance in, in the process was good.
“We have played Hartlepool before so we kind of knew what to expect but Rochdale was more of an unknown."
He continued: “When you start missing or getting offside goals you wonder whether if it’s ever going to come but we always play the right way and we kept the positive mind-set that we were going to get a goal and eventually we did.”
