GRAEME MURTY shared his pride in his Sunderland Under-21s team despite their defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League 2 play-off final, but has challenged his young players to use their weekend disappointment as 'fuel' in order to improve next season.

Murty watched his team come up narrowly short against a Tottenham side spearheaded by the impressive Will Lankshear on Sunday, with the Spurs striker scoring twice to dent Sunderland's hopes of clinching Premier League 2 glory after what has been a hugely encouraging campaign at the Academy of Light.

Sunderland defied the odds to reach the play-off final in North London with a trio of comeback victories in the knockout stages against Wolves, West Ham and Reading before facing their biggest test yet against the league winners at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. 

Spurs had already beaten Murty's side twice this season across league and cup, with Lankshear on the scoresheet at Eppleton Colliery, and they completed a hat-trick over the Black Cats thanks to Lankshear's 31st and 32nd goals of the campaign and captain George Abbott's late strike. 

Lankshear, a significant youth signing from Sheffield United in 2022, opened the scoring five minutes before the interval after Sunderland had created the better openings of an entertaining first half in North London.

The 19-year-old, who has been linked with a possible loan move to Middlesbrough next season, doubled his and Spurs' lead on the hour with a clinical finish inside the penalty area.

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Spurs skipper Abbott added a third goal in stoppage time, but Sunderland got some reward for their endeavour when Timur Tuterov grabbed a consolation after he turned in Tommy Watson's rebound with the final kick of the game before Spurs were crowned champions. 

Murty was keen to ensure his players look on the season with pride, having more than played their part at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and throughout the campaign after a seventh-placed finish, and then use this defeat as motivation to come back stronger.

"I didn’t think 3-1 reflected the game," said Murty. "I didn’t think they were that much better than us. As I’ve said to the players, we stated at the start of the game the team that was most ruthless would win the game and I think it turned out that way, but I thought my lads deserved more.

"For all of our play and all of our chances we created, we weren’t as ruthless as they were. We credit them. They are a really, really good side but we have pushed them to the wire every time we’ve played them."

Murty added: "There are regrets we weren’t clinical enough. There are regrets that we lost the game. But in terms of their approach to the game, I personally see a brave, engaged, bright team that represent our values as a football club in terms of playing the game the way we want to.

"I can’t be prouder of them. I just hoped for them that they would manage to get it over the line, and they didn’t. It’s horrible for them.

"But if they never want to feel that way again, they can bank this feeling and when it’s difficult, on a snowy day up at Cleadon, and you are truly considering whether you want to go out and do that extra little bit of work, hopefully they think back to this time where we didn’t quite get it done and that is a fuel for them because I know as a player previously, disappointment is probably the best fuel I ever had."