All 16 players in the squad were used, including trialist Luca Scapuzzi, who added a third second-half goal after Adam Johnson had made it 2-0 on the hour.
Roberto Mancini clearly had one eye on the tougher opposition to come on Sunday when putting the team together for the first game in the inaugural Dublin Super Cup. Weiss (booed for his stint at Rangers by Celtic fans in for the later game) and SWP, both so impressive in north America, started again, and there was a young combination in central defence of Savic and Boyata.
Adam Johnson patrolled the left flank to begin with, allowing Weiss to float behind John Guidetti, and the Wearsider had the earliest chance when he hit a rasping shot just over the bar. He was set up by Abdul Razak, making the most of a rare opportunity to impress alongside Gareth Barry in midfield. The Ivorian, who had a couple of minutes as a substitute against West Brom in the winter acquitted himself well and showed why the management team rate him so highly.
Johnson went closer with a first time effort that just went wide on the half-hour, the chance having come after decent work from Weiss on the left.
John Guidetti was another youngster handed a chance to shine, but he spurned an opportunity early in the second half. It mattered little, though, because Shaun Wright-Phillips put City ahead in the 53rd minute. Beating the offside trap as a chip from Barry floated over, SWP ensured his impressive pre-season continued with a well-taken volley past Doherty.
It was a similar story just a few minutes later when Adam Johnson put City two to the good. Savic chipped the ball over from inside City’s half and Johnson, one on one with the keeper, had the time to place the ball home with the outside of his left.
The City defence generally had a quiet time of it, with Savic doing well to deny Kavanagh a chance after the ball had squeezed out of Taylor’s grasp. SWP had the ball in the net from a carbon-copy move and finish to his earlier effort, but this time he failed to spring the offside trap successfully.
Trialist Luca Scapuzzi added a third in the latter stages as another valuable work-out ended successfully.
