Young U21s team suffers narrow Sunderland defeat
A young Liverpool U21s team suffered a 1-0 league defeat to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon.
With regulars such as Jerome Sinclair, Joao Teixeira and Connor Randall having been drafted into the senior squad for Saturday's trip to Tottenham, Michael Beale welcomed a number of U18s into his line-up on Wearside.
But they acquitted themselves well and battled impressively against an experienced Mackems outfit, with only Michael Ledger's goal early in the second half separating the two sides.
The unfamiliarity among a patched-up Reds starting XI resulted in a disjointed opening, but while the hosts were allowed to dominate they rarely looked like taking advantage.
After Patrick van Aanholt had a weak penalty appeal turned down in the second minute, the Mackems took until the half-hour mark to carve out their next chance.
On that occasion, Charalampos Mavrias sent a shot way over after a well-worked corner as a Liverpool defence that had been scarcely tested up to that point breathed a collective sigh of relief.
The final ten minutes of the first period saw a flurry of activity, however, with Yan Dhanda almost finding the head of Dan Cleary with an inswinging cross before going close again from the follow-up.
Cleary and his defensive colleague Tom Brewitt then produced a fantastic block apiece to deny Lynden Gooch and Mikael Mandron respectively to keep things level as the clock ticked over to 45 minutes.
Unfortunately, that resilience at the back was not apparent shortly after the start of the second period when Sunderland went ahead.
A corner from the left-hand side was allowed to drop at the back post leaving Michael Ledger free to force it home as the Reds scrambled to try and get the ball away.
The goal gave Sunderland the confidence to try and build on their advantage and they twice went close through Mandron in the aftermath of going ahead.
But Liverpool should perhaps have been level when Paulo Alves collected an attempted clearance just inside the box and dragged his effort wide with 20 minutes remaining.
Sunderland rediscovered their composure after that scare and Mavrias was next to go close, with a fantastic Ryan Fulton save denying his powerful effort from the right-hand side of the box.
And, though Liverpool pushed hard in the closing moments to try and find an equaliser, they were held off impressively by a resilient Sunderland, who in truth ended as deserved winners on Wearside.
Liverpool U21s: Fulton, Whelan (Polgar, 87), Hart, Cleary, Brewitt, Virtue, Dhanda, O’Hanlon, Ejaria (T. Gomes, 57), Alves (Masterson, 75), M. Gomes.
Unused substitutes: Firth, Lewis.