Despite dominating throughout the 90 minutes, our under-21s came up against a goalkeeper in inspired form and were sucker-punched by a late Mikael Mandron strike to go down 1-0 to Sunderland.
It was the Black Cats’ first attempt on target in the 79th minute and it was enough to condemn City to a first defeat of the 2015/16 season.
EDS boss Patrick Vieira made a trio of changes to the side which lined up in the same competition against Borussia Monchengladbach a week ago, bringing back fit-again Pablo Maffeo, captain George Glendon and the ever-dangerous Brandon Barker.
Sunderland named a similarly-aged line-up to the hosts, with the notable exception of regular first-teamer Jordi Gomez who was making his comeback from injury in the game.
City kicked off their International Premier League Cup defence with a third-successive draw seven days ago so they went into this one knowing that a win would strengthen chances of qualification for the knockout rounds ahead of the meeting with Athletic Club in December.
The Black Cats came into the game on the back of a narrow win over Spurs but it was Vieira’s side who got into their stride quickest, piling pressure on James Talbot’s goal following a cagey opening ten minutes.
Barker, who was denied a credible penalty shout in the seventh minute when he was felled by Joshua Robson, spurned a good chance for the opener five minutes later after he’d done the hard work to jinx inside and create a shooting opportunity for himself ten yards out.
Manu Garcia was next to go close with a beautifully-shaped volley which just shaved the crossbar after 17 minutes but from there, the mulish Mackems tightened things up and the remainder of the half was played almost exclusively in the middle third with possession changing hands at regular intervals.
That was until the 40th minute when the game suddenly came back to life, sparked by the kind of clipped Bersant Celina free-kick which is becoming something of a trademark – however, Talbot did well on this occasion to tip the ball over the crossbar.
From the resulting corner, Thierry Ambrose was desperately unlucky to find the roof of the net with a spectacular bicycle kick – a chance he created for himself by chesting a cross into the air.
In the last action of the half, Maffeo nearly marked his return to the field with a daisycutter of a volley which flew through a forest of legs but Talbot dived low to his left and tipped the effort wide.
Buoyed by their strong end to the half, City came out for the second smelling blood, picking up where they left off in the first 45 by peppering the visitors’ goal.
Garcia nearly turned home a Celina corner courtesy of Ambrose’s cute glancing header after 60 seconds of the second period before Barker exchanged passes with Manu and thumped a volley towards the bottom corner which drew yet another stop from the increasingly put-upon Black Cats keeper.
Aarom Nemane was introduced on the hour mark and he went close to breaking the deadlock with just his second touch but he delayed shooting and Talbot smothered at his feet to neutralise the danger.
It was turning into one of those days where a combination of a great goalkeeping performance and wasteful finishing was going to deny City the opportunity to turn one point into three but it was to get even worse for the home side with ten minutes to go.
Mandron, so frequently a thorn in City’s side at youth level in recent years, clinically fired home Sunderland’s first attempt on target on the turn and, despite late pressure from the home side, that was enough to win the day.
City EDS are next in action in the Manchester Senior Cup final against Bolton on Sunday.
