Mark Atkinson has urged his players to harbour the frustrations of their challenging domestic season into having a strong Merit Group.
Sunderland begin their Group C play-offs with a Tyne-Wear derby at rivals Newcastle United’s training ground on Saturday 11 March, kick-off 11am.
Having collected seven points from their final five league matches, Atkinson’s youth team head into this weekend’s match riding the crest of a confidence booming wave.
Speaking to safc.com, the under-18s lead coach revealed the U18 Premier League merits group provides his players with the chance of a fresh start.
“It is a clean slate for the boys and this week they have set themselves some new objectives for the next seven games,” he said.
“We are playing Newcastle this weekend, a team we played not so long ago, they know us and we know them but it is a game we are looking forward to and getting started.
“We have played them twice recently and while we maybe haven’t got the results we wanted we have performed well in both games.
“For us it is important we build on those performances because there were a lot of things to be pleased with.
“Some parts of our play was excellent so taking those bits from games are important and we need to make sure we build on from them.”
He continued: “Admittedly, they have us some problems and that is something we have looked at in the last week.
“We are aware of that, though, and it is a case of making sure we put that right in the game tomorrow.”