Sunderland U18 0-2 Fulham U18

Fulham Under-18s booked themselves a place in the FA Youth Cup fifth round on Wednesday, beating Sunderland 2-0 away from home.

Terrell Works struck within the first minute, before Callum Osmand netted his third goal in this competition to double our advantage.

Head Coach Ali Melloul, who returned at the helm after his absence at Rochdale, was boosted by the availability of Under-21 defenders Charlie Robinson and Harvey Araujo.

TWorks has worked his way back up to full fitness after injury and started on the right, with last round’s heroes Aaron Loupalo-Bi and Callum Osmand keeping their places up top.

We made a dream start in front of a noisy home crowd at Eppleton Colliery. Osmand stole the ball in midfield before spinning past a Sunderland player and slotting through Works who made no mistake, slotting underneath goalkeeper Daniel Cameron.

We came agonisingly close to a second on 10 minutes. Sunderland’s Oliver Bainbridge somehow heroically cleared two efforts off the line for his side as we pushed for a second. The second attempt, which was a header from Loupalo-Bi, looked certain to fly all the way in.

Works could’ve grabbed his second as we passed the 20-minute mark. Josh King found the tricky winger, who shuffled the ball onto his right before rifling an effort against the outside of the near post.

The hosts were struggling to contain us. Osmand had an effort from close-range well blocked just a minute later.

We had two more efforts go close soon after. Osmand's strike from range was saved by Sunderland goalkeeper Daniel Cameron, who then came rushing off his line to deny Loupalo-Bi's follow-up.

Michael Allen, who had been a spectator for the first 30 minutes, needed to be alert for us and was. Mason Cotcher was played through but our young stopper came rushing off his line to deny him.

Then, only a minute later, he dived to his left to push a powerful free-kick wide.

Another huge chance came and went for us just before the break. After some suspect goalkeeping, the ball fell kindly to Gordon who scooped his effort over from just a few yards out.

We went in at the break ahead, but Ali Melloul might still have been slightly frustrated that his side didn't take a larger lead into half-time.

We started the second half as quick as the first and produced a decent effort early. Delano McCoy-Splatt’s free-kick from just outside the area was drilled low and wide.

Allen came to our rescue up the other end, parrying Cotcher's strike from range wide. 

After a series of missed chances earlier in the game, we eventually doubled our lead on the 67-minute mark. McCoy-Splatt’s free-kick took a massive deflection before falling kindly to Osmand, who coolly did the rest.

The young Black Cats showed a decent response as the fans helped push them forward. Right-back Ben Williams rose highest from a corner but his header drifted just over the crossbar.

Our blistering pace going forward was clear to see. Works powered up the pitch before finding Osmand, who cut onto his right before rolling an effort just wide. He had Gordon screaming for the ball on his right-hand side.

A brilliant away display from our youngsters, who will face Southampton in fifth round.