Two Sunderland prospects are spending time on loan with National League North neighbours South Shields.
South Shields manager Ian Watson wants to ensure two Sunderland youngsters are ‘better players and better people’ following their loan spells with the National League North club.
Northern Ireland Under-21 international Rhys Walsh has already earned the first senior experience of his young career when he joined the Mariners on an initial 28-day loan last month and he has gone on to make six appearances for Watson’s side. After being handed a start in a 2-0 win at Leamington, Walsh has been a regular feature of matchday squads and provided an assist for Cedwyn Scott to grab his second goal of a 3-0 home win against Radcliffe on Tuesday as his side made it six wins from their opening seven games of the season and moved three points clear at the top of the table.
The highly-rated winger has been joined by a familiar face at South Shields after Black Cats defender Oli Bainbridge also moved to the 1st Cloud Arena in a loan deal earlier this week. The 20-year-old will spend the first half of the season with the Mariners and he will hope to build on the experience he gained during a similar spell with Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock last season.
South Shields manager Watson has thanked Sunderland for placing their trust in his coaching staff to oversee the latest stage in the development of two of their players - and insisted he will ensure they make the most of their loan spells in the non-league game.
Speaking after his side’s win against Radcliffe, Watson told The Echo: “Sunderland have been amazing with us to be honest. Obviously we rely on the loan system a bit and at our level you have to do that from time to time. Sunderland have been incredible, we went and watched one of their Under-21s games, we already liked Ollie and we saw both him and Rhys play in the game together and we loved what we saw from them.
“It took a little bit longer to get Ollie over the line due to certain circumstances but we are delighted to have him here with us. I can’t speak highly enough of Sunderland, we have to thank them for letting us have these players and for trusting us with them. It’s good that they trust us and our coaches with their young players because they know we like developing young players and we want to help them as much as possible. Our responsibility is to make sure we look after them and send them back to Sunderland as better players and better people and I think we will do that.”
Bainbridge could make his Mariners debut when his new side visit National League North rivals Southport on Saturday.
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