'Chris Rigg is a really good footballer and deserves to play,' says Sunderland boss

It was another day to remember for 15-year-old Sunderland star Chris Rigg.

Tony Mowbray says Chris Rigg is not playing for Sunderland ‘as a stunt’ – it’s because he’s good enough.

The 15-year-old made his second appearance for the club against Fulham in the FA Cup, and he thought he had won the game late on.

As he reeled away to celebrate by patting the Sunderland badge on his chest, though, the linesman raised his flag to correctly call Abdoullah Ba off in the build-up.

Still, Rigg once again made a huge impression, and Mowbray says he is involved purely on merit.

"We put a 15-year-old on the pitch for us at the end who looked like he'd won the game for us but it wasn't quite to be," Mowbray told BBC Sport.

"Riggy trains with us twice a week because he's at school the rest of the week. We have day release for him and he goes to school and then we bring him out two days a week and he trains with the first team - most of the time unless he's got a youth cup game to play.

"He deserves to play. I don't put him on as a stunt. I wouldn't expose a 15-year-old to that if he wasn't good enough.

"He trains, he runs, he tackles, he plays forwards, he dribbles, he shoots... he's a really good footballer and he almost had an amazing memory that would have stayed with him forever."

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