Sunderland coach reveals play-off message as U21s side set up West Ham contest after Wolves win

Sunderland’s under-21s boss Graeme Murty says his side can be immensely proud of their efforts after reaching the quarter-finals of Premier League 2.

The young Black Cats came from a goal down to beat Wolves 4-1 at Eppleton CW, with Ben Middlemas, Trey Ogunsuyi, Tom Watson and substitute Timur Tutierov getting on the scoresheet. Sunderland will now face another home fixture against West Ham in the last eight, after the Hammers beat Blackburn 4-1.

“I’m very proud of the players,” Murty told the Echo after the Wolves match. “I’m really proud of the resilience they showed after going behind and the intent they showed to continue to play the way we wanted them to play. I think they deserve a lot more people coming to see them because of the quality they showed, the intensity they showed to come from behind against a very good team. I think in that second half the players can be immensely proud of their efforts.”

When asked about West Ham, a side which beat Sunderland 2-0 in the league last August, Murty replied: “West Ham finished second in the table and are up there with the top teams that we’ve played. I thought they were excellent at the start of the year. It will be an interesting measure of how far we’ve come and how far we’ve grown. We know it’s going to be a difficult game.

“What I’ve said to the players, they need to relish this opportunity. I said to them at the start that people sometimes wilt under pressure but the pressure of playing in the play-offs where you can get knocked out is a privilege. I want to see what they are made of and at half-time I challenged them again.

“For a team I thought were a little bit within themselves in the first half, I thought they thrived under that pressure. We put it on them purposely, we told them they were under pressure and they didn’t shirk from it. That’s a measure of their maturity as a group and the growth they’ve gone through this year.”