Hail the Reserves, Cup Final conquerors of Walsall

It is always a pleasure to receive an upbeat text message from a Sunderland match I haven’t been able to attend (we won’t go into how many of those there are these days).

Pete Sixsmith’s, from the Eppleton CW ground, read last night:

We are now the proud holders of the Tote Cup after beating the mighty Walsall 3-0. Cook and Tounkare (2)

I very much hope Pete will add to this before I hit the road, members of NASTY (the National Association of Scummy Toe-Rags and Yobs) permitting, for an Anfield-based weekend.

But it is right to salute the performance of the Reserves in securing the trophy in the delayed final, a hangover from fixtures congestion at the end of last season.

The reserve team manager Keith Bertschin said at safc.com: “It was a fiercely competitive game against a Walsall side who put up a good showing. It’s always nice to win something and I’m delighted for the lads. Perhaps 3-0 flattered us a little. There wasn’t much in the game – we played a lot of football in the final third but gave the ball away cheaply at times.”

The teams:

Sunderland

Carson, Bagnall, Liddle, Reed (Marrs, 90), Egan, Laing, Mitchell, Armstrong (Elliott, 78), Tounkara, Laidler (Gorrin, 81), Cook.
Subs Not Used: Watson, Pickford.

Walsall

Grof, Beevers, Benning, Forde, Tank, Smith, Deards, Botfield (Cresswell, 77), Bowerman, Butlin (Maher, 60), Paterson (Williams, 62).
Subs Not Used: George, Morris.

I await Pete – or Steve Bruce’s – response to my question as to whether Jordan Cook and Oumare Tounkara now start at Liverpool …