Our under-21s rounded off 2023 with an impressive win in PL2 as Khayon Edwards netted twice to beat Sunderland.
Mehmet Ali's side trailed at the break but managed to recover in the second half to get the win, with Edwards completing his brace seven minutes from time to clinch a win on Wearside.
A strong Black Cats side which featured Bradley Back at centre-back, and hot prospect Chris Rigg on the bench, began brightly and forced Ovie Ejeheri into a couple of early saves.
However we looked dangerous ourselves and Charles Sagoe Jr had our best chance of the half when he saw a shot deflect just wide of the post after a good run from Amario Cozier-Duberry.
Nazariy Rusyn missed a great chance to open the scoring but would make amends on 37 minutes when he headed the hosts in front, meaning we had plenty of work to do to turn things around in the second half.
However, that's exactly what we did, and it took us just four minutes after the restart to regain parity when Sagoe Jr teed up Edwards and he made no mistake by drilling the ball past Nathan Bishop from an angle.
That gave us confidence and Sagoe Jr and Cozier-Duberry both had opportunities to put us in front as we cranked up the pressure, and Edwards continued to look threatening in attack and he would be the one to grab the all-important third goal of the game.
A swift counter-attack involving Sagoe Jr and Ethan Nwaneri led to the ball coming to our forward who dispatched the chance to ensure the long journey north was worth the hassle.
Line-up: Ejeheri, Nichols, Walters, Monlouis, Sousa, Henry-Francis, Lewis-Skelly (Heaven 90+3), Nwaneri (I. Oulad M’Hand 88), Cozier-Duberry (Kabia 90+6), Edwards, Sagoe Jr
Subs not used: Graczyk, Dudziak
What's next
We're not in under-21 action now until January 12 when fifth-placed Middlesbrough head to north London
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