As the end of the half approached, Sunderland then picked up the tempo of their play and started to ask questions of the home team defence.  Good link up play down Sunderland’s left hand flank saw Nicola Devine getting into some good areas and Sarah Danby and Steph O’Brien were unlucky not to convert the chances that fell their way.  Good play by O’Brien, allowed Devine to muscle her fullback off the ball and her effort went just wide of the far post.

O’Brien had a great chance near the end of the half, however she saw her left footed effort deflected wide with some last ditch defending by Birmingham.  HT: Birmingham Res 0 -0 Sunderland Res.

Sunderland came out in the second half, in the manner they finished the first half, switching the play a lot quicker and down both flanks started to ask real questions of the home team.  It was Sunderland who broke the deadlock, when excellent attacking play caused problems in the Birmingham penalty area.  The ball fell to Lynsey Fletcher, who played a fantastic ball back into the danger area and Nicola Devine crashed a powerful header goal wards.  Somehow the home goalkeeper pulled off a fantastic save to push the ball onto the bar, but Devine was not to be denied and followed up her header to scramble the ball over the line which made it 1-0.  The game remained an even affair with Birmingham now having to push further forward, allowing Sunderland to break at pace and counter attack when they regained possession.  Nicola Devine then scored her second of the game, when she managed to lift the ball past the goalkeeper and the ball dropped into the net making it 2-0 to the away team.  

The visitors again managed to exploit the fact that Birmingham were now having to push further forward and a ball up to Sarah Danby allowed her to show her turn of pace and race clear of the defenders, to place her left footed drive past the goalkeeper into the far corner making the final score 3-0.  FT: Birmingham Res 3-0 Sunderland Res.

Manager Mark Pae said after the game … “At the end, the score line flattered us a bit, however we won't be complaining with the outcome.  Coming to Birmingham was always going to be difficult and this proved to be the case".

"We spoke before the game about how we thought they would play and how we could turn this to our advantage.  For the first 30 minutes of the first half, we didn't get into our passing game by making the most of the players out wide.  This started to happen just before half time and we spoke about carrying this on through the second half.  When we did this, we looked more dangerous and were able to covert some really good chances.  The result was pleasing, however we still have Birmingham to play at home and we know this will be a difficult game, as they are right up there in the league table.  We played much better in the second half and I’m delighted with the way the girls battled".

Sunderland Reserves:  Laws, Holmes, Bell (Salicki 70mins), Clark, Devine, Havelock, Unwin, Fletcher (Atkinson 72), O'Brien, Danby. Subs not used: Ramshaw, Dixon