SUNDERLAND were last night defended by the Football Association after the North-East public snubbed the England Under-21 team.

The Stadium of Light was more than three-quarters empty on Tuesday as a paltry crowd of 11,223 watched the vital European Championship qualifier with Slovakia.

Only two months ago, there were barely 21,000 in St James' Park as David Platt's England met Turkey at Newcastle United's 52,000-capacity ground.

Last week, Hull's new KC Stadium was sold out as 24,000 people crammed in to watch England's friendly with Serbia and Montenegro.

And the tiny attendance in Sunderland suggested that the FA would have been better served by staging the game at a smaller venue.

But Soho Square backed Sunderland yesterday and refused to condemn the stayaway supporters that left the Stadium of Light almost deserted.

FA spokesman Andrin Cooper said: "The crowd was lower than we might have hoped for, but the game was at the end of a very long season.

"Traditionally, the Sunderland public have supported us very well, and people have a lot of calls on their time and money.

"We like taking the England teams around the country to give supporters the chance to see them.

"Of course, a 21,000 crowd in a 25,000 stadium is fantastic, while the same crowd in a much bigger ground isn't quite the same.

"But the fans that did turn up at the Stadium of Light created a good atmosphere.

"And a crowd of 11,000 for an Under-21s game is something that other European countries could only dream about.

"When England go abroad for Under-21 games, there are normally only a couple of thousand people at games."

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