Once Sunderland got the goal, then they started to play with more confidence and in particular Devine down the left hand side was always a threat.  Most of Sunderland best play, came down their left handside, with both Simpson and Jordan Atkinson both making problems for Leicester’s back four, with a few strong runs down that side.  Early into the first half, Jess Clark had to be replaced by Jess Havelock, who had an immediate impact on the game, even though she was playing down the right hand side.  After some good battling on the right hand side, the ball broke to Havelock whose right footed cross was volleyed in at close range by Devine at the back post. 2-0 HT ... Sunderland Reserves  2-0  Leicester City Reserves

The second half started very evenly between the two teams, with both teams knowing the next goal would be crucial.  It was Sunderland though who had the better of the chances.  This time playing with the wind on their side, Sunderland managed to play Simpson in, whose pace left the defenders behind.  However, with only the goalkeeper to beat, Simpson was unable to make it 3-0 after the keeper made a great save at her feet.  Simpson again managed to work an excellent 1v1 situation and Leicester again had to be grateful to their keeper who again managed to foil Simpson.  Leicester managed to gain confidence by this and started to probe and ask more questions of Sunderland’s back four.  However, Sunderland’s defence were more than capable of stifling the threat from attacks, with Becky Salicki being a rock in the middle of defence.  The visitor's pressure finally payed off when they managed to get in behind Sunderland’s defence and hit a low shot past the advancing Laws, to make it 2-1.  This is the way the game stayed as Sunderland defended all over the pitch to shut the attacks down and nearly managed to find a third after some good play by Atkinson. Substitute Emma Bentley hit a superb first time effort from outside the box, which looked destined to find the top corner, only to graze the top of the bar and go over. 
FT ... Sunderland Reserves  2-1  Leicester City Reserves

Sunderland... Laws, Dixon, Salicki, Riddell, Fletcher, Clark (Havelock), Unwin, Ramshaw (Scarr), Devine, Simpson (Bentley), Atkinson

Manager Mark Pae said after the match ... "We didn’t start well today after our preparations were interrupted, after that it was always going to be difficult to play to our full potential.  However the players deserve lots of credit, as once again they showed excellent battling qualities and team spirit.  Two quality finishes from Nicola Devine gave us the advantage and we managed to defend brilliantly to keep us ahead.  The full squad's attitude and commitment was first class today and we showed a never say die attitude.  Leicester were strong opposition who did cause us problems, they gave our players plenty to think about, but we stood up to the test.  We needed to get a positive result to get last week, against Leeds, out of our system and keep pressure on the teams above us in the league".