Foundation celebrates league cup success

Foundation of Light's Development Team have won a prestigious regional competition after a thrilling final against Gateshead College. The youngsters, based in County Durham, staged an amazing come-back to lift the NECL Development League Cup in Wednesday's final at Gateshead International Stadium. Gateshead College headed into the interval two nil up before goals from Steven Dawson and Ryan Paterson brought the Young Black Cats level, with Jack Mortimer scoring a dramatic winner five minutes from time.

Winning the cup feels absolutely brilliant. We didn't do ourselves justice in the first half but had a good team talk at half time and at the end of the day we deserved to win. It's been a great experience. Playing in a fantastic stadium on a great pitch and wearing the Sunderland AFC strip means a lot to the lads. They've done the Foundation and the club proud.

Stephen Brass, Foundation Development Team coach

The Foundation's Development Team is part of the charity's hugely successful Football Scholarship, offering young people aged 16-17 a pathway into the sports and leisure industries. The programme provides access to elite training with Foundation of Light's highly experienced UEFA B coaches while studying towards a Cambridge Technical Level 3 and gaining practical work experience opportunities on one of three personalised pathways: football, coaching or fitness. The team competes in the North-East Colleges Development League each Wednesday against Further Education institutions from across the region, where they finished second in their debut season.