Piper's dream comes true

Sunderland new boy Matt Piper admits he is living a dream after completing his £3.5m move to the Stadium of Light.

The 20-year-old midfielder is still on cloud nine after making his first Premiership start for the club in the shock 1-0 win at Leeds on August 28 and then playing his part in the spirited fightback which earned the Black Cats an unlikely point against Manchester United last weekend.

To cap it all, the former Leicester player last week won his first ever England call-up, and was today hoping to be named in David Platt’s Under-21 side for tonight’s friendly clash with Yugoslavia at Bolton’s Reebok Stadium.

“These last few weeks have been a dream,” he admitted. “I’ve had England scouts watch me when I was at Leicester and I was getting some positive feedback, but was never in a squad.

“I got a call from Peter Reid last Friday to tell me. You never know quite what to expect when you get a call from the gaffer – I thought he wanted to talk about something to do with the Manchester United game.

“He seemed really happy about something, and it was amazing to get that sort of news from him. This is the first time I’ve ever been in an international squad.”

Piper arrived on Wearside perhaps largely unknown to the football public but with a growing reputation within the game, and it is a measure of his promise that Reid, who is not a man to spend £10m when £1m will do, invested such a large proportion of his summer transfer kitty in him.

Pacy and direct, he has already shown flashes of his talent for the Black Cats to suggest that he can occupy a position on the right side of midfield which has been filled by several different players, including at different points, Don Hutchison, Julio Arca and Jason McAteer, since the departure of specialist winger Nicky Summerbee.

“I was short of match fitness when I came to the club, but I’m pretty much 100 per cent now,” he told the Sunderland Echo.

“I was a bit short against United last weekend. I was blowing a bit, so the gaffer took me off.

“I’ve already been involved in some massive games this season and this England call is the icing on the cake.”

The excitement is unlikely to end for Piper just yet whatever the future holds on the international stage with his club commitments pitching him into two huge games in the coming weeks.

Sunderland will head down the A19 to take on derby rivals Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium next Tuesday night, and then 11 days later, make the short trip to St James’ Park looking for revenge for last season’s home defeat by Sir Bobby Robson’s men.