Timothee Pembele notched an assist and Nazariy Rusyn scored twice for Sunderland's under-21s against Leeds last night.
The young(ish) Black Cats side won 3-1 in Yorkshire thanks to a Rusyn brace and a Harrison Jones goal. However, Ben Crompton was subbed off after just 20 minutes due to injury, replaced by returning Hartlepool loanee Zak Johnson.
Jones scored the opener after 16 minutes, capitalising on a Pembele cutback, before Rusyn slotted home our second a few minutes later. The Ukrainian forward grabbed his second just before half time after rounding the keeper. Luca Thomas pulled one back in the second half, but Sunderland saw out the win and moved into fifth place in the Premier League 2.
Several other first teamers also featured in the game, with Nathan Bishop, Nectar Triantis, Chris Rigg and Eleizer Mayenda all featuring. In a game where several fringe players were present, Hemir's absence was notable too. None of them have looked close to pushing for a starting position in Michael Beale's side in recent weeks, so this game would have been a good chance to catch the Head Coach's attention as well as building up match fitness.
