Sunderland under-18s coach Paul Bryson praised his side’s defensive display following Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Premier League leaders Derby County.
The Black Cats fell behind through Archie Brown’s 17th minute opener but were a match for their high-flying opponents for much of the game, although they came away with nothing to show for their efforts.
Bryson was quick to hail the work-rate shown by his players after the final whistle, saying: “We did have a game plan and we stuck to it, so I’m really pleased - the lads put a really good disciplined performance in.
“I was a little bit disappointed with the goal, it was a soft goal from a free-kick where we’ve got to be defending as if we really mean it but overall it was a good performance.
“We lacked that quality in the final third which we’ve said all season but I’m pleased with how hard the lads worked, and one lad in particular I thought was outstanding was Patrick Almond who is an under-16.
“He was strong in the challenge, won his headers and his distribution was good so I thought for him playing Under-18 football he was excellent.”
The Black Cats remain bottom of the U18 Premier League following the defeat with player absences for a multitude of reasons seeing the starting 11 change regularly throughout the season.
“Last week we had 10 players for one reason or another not playing,” Bryson added.
“There’s three long term injuries in Andrias [Edmundsson], Rayed [Derbali] and Cole [Kiernan] so there were seven missing today which is a lot of players.
“It’s a big ask for the other lads to step in and play against other Category 1 sides but to be fair they’ve worked really hard, especially today.”
