Premier League 2

Sunderland 0

Leeds United 1 (Gnonto 53’)

Sunderland: Carney (GK), Hume, Wright (C), Johnson, Cirkin, Michut, Ba, Matete, Bennette, Dajaku, Amad. Subs not used: Richardson, Thompson, Kachosa, Newall, Burke. 

Leeds: Klaesson (GK), Drameh, Sutcliffe (Allen 81’), Moore, Spencer, Gyabi, Greenwood (McCalmont 90’), Perkins (Miller 90’) Joseph, Gelhardt, Gnonto (McGurk 90’). Subs not used: Christy (GK). 

Venue: Stadium of Light

Attendance: TBC

Referee: G. Rhodes

Booked: Johnson, Matete, Birkin (Sunderland) Sutcliffe (Leeds)

Leeds United Under-21s faced a tough test away at Sunderland Under-21s on Monday evening, as the hosts named a strong team at the Stadium of Light in this Premier League 2 Division 2 encounter.

Michael Skubala’s youngsters controlled large parts of the match and were rewarded with three points, after Willy Gnonto’s excellent second half strike in the North East. 

The opening moments of the match saw both teams looking to work one another out, whilst keeping control of the ball in the early stages. 

The first real chance of the match went to the home side, when Abdoullah Ba broke into the box and had a chance to square it to his teammate, only to see Morten Spencer come flying in with a superbly timed block to clear the danger. 

Next up to go close was Joe Gelhardt. The striker found space on the edge of the area and struck low, left footed, seeing the ball go narrowly wide of Jacob Carney’s left-hand post. 

The ball did hit the back of the net when Leon Dajaku raced through on goal, but unaware to him, the flag had already gone up and play was stopped for offside, as Skubala’s side held their line. 

The best chance of the opening 45 minutes was for Leeds - and went so close to opening the scoring. Kris Moore headed the ball back across the box where Mateo Joseph was waiting at the back post and he in turn powered a header on goal, only to see Edouard Michut clear off the line.  

That was to be it in the first half in a closely contested match under the lights in the North East, as the teams went in level at the interval. 

HALF TIME: Sunderland U21s 0-0 Leeds United U21s

No changes were made at the break and the teams came back out in the second half of this Premier League 2 encounter the same way in which they had started the first, both player wise and on the scoreline. 

Going close at the start of the second 45, Cody Drameh controlled the ball himself before smashing a shot against the post. However, it wouldn’t take too much longer for the deadlock to be broken as Skubala’s side found the back of the net to go ahead in the match.

Superb work from Harvey Sutcliffe saw the defender fight hard to not only reclaim possession but then retain it, then create the chance for Gnonto to burst into the middle of the area and smash the ball into the top corner! 

Moments later, it was nearly two. Gnonto had been fouled this time as he approached the box and from the resulting free-kick, Sam Greenwood forced an excellent diving save from Carney as the ball was heading towards the top corner. 

Into the final 10 minutes of the match, the home side went within inches of equalising. A free-kick on the right hand side was perfectly placed for Zak Johnson, who flicked his header just wide of the goal. 

In what had been a tough 90 minutes, Leeds held onto their lead in the closing stages and saw out a brilliant away win, against a strong Sunderland side in this Premier League 2 clash. 

FULL TIME: Sunderland U21s 0-1 Leeds United U21s