Well, it wasn’t Barcelona v Arsenal, but tonight Sunderland reserves flew out comfortable victors over Hartlepool by five goals to nil in the cup. Nathan Luscombe, Adam Reed and Craig Lynch dominated midfield while Mathew Fletcher and Ryan Noble looked great up front. Noble shone and with only one fit striker in the senior team can’t be very far from a call up. It looks good for the future, as Lynch, also impressing, scored twice and created many of the chances.

Sunderland started brilliantly, Lynch breaking through a tackle and sliding the ball through to Luscombe on the left who sprinted past his marker and drilled the ball into the corner of the net. Sunderland nearly doubled their lead when Reed put Fletcher through but the Australian forward could only shoot wide. However, Sunderland did get the second six minutes later. Fletcher played Noble through in the centre but the England u 19 international shot straight at the keeper. Fortunately the ball broke to Fletcher but his shot was also saved by Andy Rafferty. Finally the rebound fell to Lynch who tapped the ball into an empty net.

Noble seemed to be everywhere but missed an opportunity in the 18 th minute when Luscombe played him through, but he made amends for it ten minutes later. Adam Reed gave the ball to Luscombe who, in turn, passed to Noble. Noble turned did a one two with Luscombe, went through on goal and swept the ball around the goalkeeper with aplomb. Sunderland made it four nil just before half time when Fletcher was released on the left by Luscombe. Fletcher still had a lot to do but held off his man superbly to get the ball into the box for Lynch to slide home. There was a brief scare for Sunderland when Adam Boyd hit the bar with a dropping, swivelling volley but other than that Sunderland looked very comfortable.

At half time Sunderland were cruising and my only worry was whether my feet would freeze in the 2 nd half. There was a decent turnout at Hetton, though half the young attendees kept on aimlessly wandering around the ground a packet of chips in one hand a curly wurly in the other. Their most exciting moment was probably when the ball went out of the ground or more likely when they put the ketchup on the chips. We will never know. Such are the mysteries of life.

Within 40 seconds of the restart Sunderland scored a fifth. Fletcher barged his way down the right before laying the ball off to Lynch, who picked out Noble and he slotted it home. It looked like it would be the start of a deluge but unfortunately Sunderland never really got going again and apart from a few scraps from Noble, nothing was created and the half petered out into tedium. This seems a bit mean spirited to mention though, as Sunderland were well worthy of their win and have now scored 14 in their last 3 games while only conceding one (a penalty).

Final Score: 5-0

Ones to watch: I have already mentioned Noble and Lynch so Fletcher gets overall winner tonight. A fine display of how to hold a ball up matched with great technique adds to Sunderland’s attacking options not just in the reserves but for the first team as well.

Team: Ben Wilson, Liam Marrs, Blair Adams, Adam Reed, Dan Madden, Louis Laing, Craig Lynch, Nathan Wilson, Matthew Fletcher, Ryan Noble, Nathan Luscombe

Substitutes for Sunderland: Jordan Watson came on for the impressive Louis Laing in the 74 th minute.

Crowd: 314

Michael Glancy