A full house at Eppleton saw Sunderland cruise to a fairly comfortable if somewhat subdued 2-0 win against a young and inexperienced Wigan Athletic in the Barclays Premier Reserve League.

The Lads lined up with the man everyone had come to see Kenwyn Jones and young Waggy up front and just as importantly with M’Voto back, as his physical presence has been a big miss in recent months. The French youngster was paired with Hartley at centre back, the two Jordans played wide, Cook on the left and Hendo on the right and Captain Jack and Douglas Bader played through the middle.

Kenwyn almost made the perfect start in the fourth minute when Cook looked as though he’d lost possession by trying to run through his man but cleverly won the ball back and arrowed in a cross that KJ was just inches from, although he may have been impeded when launching himself.

Five minutes later and captain Jack burst through the middle and shot just wide of the post although plenty people on the far side thought it had sneaked in. Just after the quarter hour mark Cook ceded possession poorly to Athletic and they broke swiftly but to Cook’s credit it was he who cleared spectacularly with an overhead clearance when the ball was played deep into the Sunderland box.

A minute later the ever-impressive M’Voto took what looked like a hefty whack to the knee and think its fair to assume that that was the reason for his substitution very early after the restart. Mike Pollitt was called upon again as he made an excellent save from Jordan Henderson’s effort after KJ had held the ball up well and another good touch from T&T’s finest set up Cookie but his effort was high and wide. Kenwyn then got a good effort in after Colback and Henderson had combined for the best bit of play of the match thus far.

A minute before then break and Cook took two defenders out of the game with a lovely Cruyff turn but tried to bend the ball low to the right hand post and was just off target. Moments later and Cook got on the end of a Henderson cross but hit the side netting.

There was still time however, for Michael ‘Lids’ Liddle to go on one of his trademark jinky runs all the way from the left back berth to the edge of the box and just when I was starting to think, bugger it’s sat up on his less favoured right foot he proves I know nothing and rifled home with the aforementioned foot.

H/T: 1-0

The Lads were back out on to the pitch a good four or five minutes before they were due, so that they could go through some fairly camp warm up parade, it was either that or they are auditioning for some sort of Celebrity, get me out of here gay cheerleaders X Factor’s little big brother show. It didn’t fill us full of confidence that M’Voto would get through the half when we saw that as soon as the ref blew to restart, McArdle was already stripped and ready to come on. Indeed the Frenchman barely lasted three minutes before being replaced by the Irishman. I hope it will be a short-lived injury as he makes a huge difference to our back line.

It took a dozen minutes of the second period before either side got near to a goal and it was Lids who crossed a superb ball for KJ who contrived to put it narrowly wide when it looked harder to miss than score. KJ then had another chance when he went up with Pollitt, but the keeper did just enough to hold on. It was KJ’s last contribution as he and Waggy were replaced by Dowse and Chandler, spot on the hour as per Sir Royston’s instructions. Well you wouldn’t not follow ‘em would you?

A mad 60 seconds ensued with Cook unlucky with a bicycle kick and Colback’s header blocked before the ball dropped to Dowse who converted from seven yards. It was his first touch only seconds after coming on. Personally I’d have been straight over to KJ who was still walking round the pitch to the main stand for his early bath and told him that’s how to score but I’m just a cheeky bugger. Just after the midway point Cook produced another good cross from the left and Dowse slid in marginally too late as Pollitt went in bravely to save well.

The lads were enjoying their best spell of the game. I couldn’t work out whether they had felt they needed to get the ball up early to KJ and Waggy and get them involved to get sharp or whether a few of the younger players were distracted by the size and proximity of the crowd. It would be unfair to say that they didn’t play well but this was one of their least fluent performances for quite some time.

In fact the early stages of the second half were so uneventful, the absolute highlight was when one of the spectators behind the dug out rushed to gather a high ball going out of play but forgot there was a considerable drop and went slam diving only without the aid of a crowd to catch him. Not a good move, he’ll be feeling that this morning. Naturally he got loads of sympathy from everyone roundabouts.

Just after the half hour mark Cook cut inside on the left and rifled a shot that just cleared the crossbar. Jordan then tried his third bicycle kick of the game, (is that a tricycle kick?) when it looked easier to head, and the ball went high and wide and the game drifted to a close.

It sounds strange to mention but such has been the appalling standard of refereeing Hetton for the last couple of seasons I have to give a quick word for the ref who despite looking about 14 and admittedly making the odd mistake he generally got most decisions right, tried to let the game flow and despite some pretty meaty challenges, not a yellow card to be seen. What a refreshing change.

Full Time: Sunderland Reserves 2–0 Wigan Athletic Reserves

Sunderland: Colgan, Kay, Liddle, M’Voto (McArdle), Hartley, Colback, Meyler Henderson, Jones (Chandler), Waghorn, (Dowson), Cook.

Subs unused: Misiewicz, Luscombe

Man of the Match: Cook, tried a few things that didn’t quite come off but showed touches of real quality

Attendance: 2372

Dov