Sunderland & Republic of Ireland Under-21 international, Clifford Byrne grabbed four goals this Wednesday - one of them into his own net - as Sunderland Reserves eased past Brandon Utd. in the Durham County Cup.
Byrne completed his hat trick from the penalty spot in the 75th minute to put the Black Cats 5-0 up. Then unfortunately for Byrne, he headed into his own net after Mark Patterson had grabbed a consolation for the Northern League club as they rallied late on.
Sunderland went in front in the 35th minute through John Oster, Byrne added a second for the home side in the 40th minute, heading home a Sean Thornton free kick, then the defender scored his second just after half time, again a header, from an Oster corner.
Kyle made it 4-0 to Sunderland in the 70th minute before ‘captain Byrne’ converted a penalty to score his third in front of watching assistant boss Steve Cotterill. The Black Cat’s team also included Irish men Michael Reddy, Steven Capper and midfielder Keith Graydon.
Thomas Butler injury blow
Sunderland and Republic of Ireland winger, Thomas Butler, is sidelined with a ham-string injury sustained in the black Cats win (3-1) over Middlesboro reserves during the week.
In the reserve Tyne & Tees derby, a game watched by both Howard Wilkinson and Steve Cotterell, Butler scored for the Black Cats in their win over their local rivals. And any chance to make an impression on the new coaching staff has now been put on hold for the Ballymun man, as it is now expected that he will be sidelined for a minimum of three weeks.
Having secured a four-year contract at the Stadium of Light earlier this year under manager Peter Reid, Butler seems to have lost his first team place under new boss ‘Wilkinson’. And with just over three weeks to go until the Republic of Ireland take on Greece in Athens on Nov. 20th (F), these are not happy times for the Irish left winger
"This is not a good time for this to happen. I was playing well, but it means that the new manager has now just seen me for 40 minutes for the reserves, which is not ideal at all."
“But I’ll have to be patient, and not rush back or I could do more damage than is already done”
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