NOT only are Sunderland flying in League One and through to the second round of the FA Cup, they can now start to think about a surge towards Wembley in another competition.

The Checkatrade Trophy might not whet the appetite of every Black Cats supporter, although to be fair there were still more than 1,500 of them at Globe Arena last night, but it could yet prove to be a nice financial boost for the club – and not to mention a day out in London early next year.

Sunderland, with a full team of changes and appearances for a number of young guns, have won their group courtesy of the three points they earned with this late win on the west coast against gritty Morecambe from League Two.

It's eight wins in a row now for Jack Ross' side in all competitions.

Josh Maja, in the side to build up his fitness and confidence after injury, controlled a deep cross and applied a cool finish deep into stoppage-time for the only goal of the game.

Now, after winning their group after overcoming Stoke’s Under-21s and Carlisle too, Sunderland will be handed a home tie in Friday’s draw against one of the teams that finished as a group runner-up in the northern section.

With a place in the knock-out stages already pretty much secured regardless of the result, Ross took the opportunity to make 11 changes and that included handing full debuts to Jack Bainbridge and Jordan Hunter. Teenage striker Jack Diamond started alongside top scorer Maja in attack.

Ross was not seated on the bench or loitering in the dug out area, instead choosing to observe from the directors’ box as Bainbridge, signed from Swansea in the summer, started on the left of a three-man defence and ex-Liverpool man Hunter was on the right at wing-back.

There must have been fears among the travelling support that Sunderland would be fined for the strength of team sent out, but they will escape punishment because the line-up was made up of plenty players boasting more than 40 senior appearances.

Sunderland were almost chasing the game inside ten minutes. After a pretty slow start, Jason Oswell’s header was flying towards the top corner when Luke O’Nien jumped to clear the danger on the line.

After Diamond had seen an effort fly wide shortly after, the sight of Hunter darting in from the right at pace will have excited the away contingent and Ross. He also got a decent effort away with his left boot which Mark Halstead had to turn behind for a corner.

Morecambe weren’t rolling over, though. With half-time approaching their skipper Alex Kenyon curled an effort from distance against the foot of the post when Sunderland had badly handled a routine delivery into the area, with goalkeeper Robbin Ruiter misjudging.

After that Sunderland started to pass the ball around more confidently, with the wing-backs important. Power and Hackett, a product of the club’s academy, regularly looked to move the ball wide. Hackett also forced Halstead into a save.

There was very little for either goalkeeper to do for a decent amount of time until Diamond then wriggled his way free of his marker in the penalty area after the restart, and then rolled an effort into Halstead that he did well to hold.

Soon after that more academy graduates entered the fray. Brandon Taylor replaced Hunter started things rolling on the hour, just as Morecambe began to push on in search of a winner. Diminutive striker Lee Connelly then replaced Diamond soon after and 16-year-old Daniel Neil was put on in stoppage-time too for more debuts.

Despite the lack of goalmouth action to get excited about, the travelling support still made a night of it and regularly raised the noise levels on the three-sided ground in an effort to spark things to life.

Ruiter did his best to help break the deadlock, but in a manner which would not have gone down well with those of a Wearside persuasion. He somehow misjudged a routine delivery from Kevin Ellison that bounced in his direction and ended up shoving it behind for a corner and it could easily have nestled inside his right-hand post.

From there on in it was as if neither side was too bothered about hitting the winner until Ruiter had to make a stunning late save to deny Sam Lavelle’s rasping drive.

There was still plenty of effort in the middle of the pitch throughout, and just when it seemed the two defences had too much for the opposing forwards there was a late twist.

Maja was lurking at the back post to control Oviedo’s cross and then he took a touch before firing low and cross goal inside Halstead’s net – and sealed top spot in the group for Sunderland too.

MATCH RATINGS

Goal: Maja (90, 0-1)

Bookings: Kenyon (36, foul); Cuvelier (45, dissent); Thompson (54, foul)

Referee: Paul Marsden (Poulton) – it was a pretty straight forward night for the official. 6

Attendance: 2,377

Entertainment: 1/5

MORECAMBE (4-1-4-1): Halstead 7; Cranston 7, Yarney 6, Lavele 7, Conlan 5; Kenyon 7; Thompson 6 (Hedley 76), Ellison 5, Mendes-Gomes 6 (Piggott 68, 6), Cuvelier 5 (Tutte 56, 5); Oswell 5. Subs (not used): Szczepaniak (gk), Old, Mandeville, Brownsword.

SUNDERLAND (4-2-3-1): Ruiter 6; Hunter 6 (Taylor 60, 5), Bainbridge 6, Loovens 6, Ozturk 6, Oviedo 7; O’Nien 6, POWER 7, Hackett 6 (Neil 90); Diamond 6 (Connelly 65, 5), Maja 7. Subs (not used) Leonard, Patterson (gk), Kokolo, Young.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Max Power – always looked to make things happen for Sunderland in the middle.