Sunderland Res 6, Bolton Wanderers Res 1

Nov 4 2009 by James Hunter, The Journal

ROY O’Donovan staked his claim for a first-team chance with a hat-trick as Sunderland Reserves thrashed Bolton 6-1 at Eppleton CW.

O’Donovan’s treble, a brace from Nathan Luscombe (2) and a penalty from Northern Ireland striker David Healy ended Sunderland’s five-match losing streak, which had seen them fail to pick up a point since winning at Wigan in the opening game of the season, and lifted them off the foot of the table.

Former Cork City striker O’Donovan has not had a look-in since Steve Bruce took over on Wearside, but – with Kenwyne Jones sitting out the next three games through suspension – the Irishman did his chances no harm whatsoever in front of the watching Black Cats boss.

Sunderland fell behind after only nine minutes when centre-back Joe Cornforth brought down striker Danny Ward just outside the box on the right side of the D and Ward stepped up to take the free-kick, with his left-foot shot flying past Trevor Carson.

But Sunderland were only behind for four minutes before David Meyler turned his marker and fed the ball into the box for O’Donovan, who had time to control and stab a low shot past keeper Adam Bogdan. Luscombe made the visitors pay in the 33rd minute when he smashed home a low shot from inside the box on the left which went across the keeper and found the bottom right-hand corner.