Andy Welsh has drawn on a host of positives following Sunderland under-23s first Premier League 2 defeat of the season.
The young Black Cats were spirited throughout but found themselves behind at the break after two wonder strikes from Paolo Fernandes.
While Rees Greenwood halved the deficit on the hour mark, Lukas Nmecha restored City’s two-goal cushion shortly after to regain control of the fixture at the Stadium of Light.
Elliot Embleton gave Sunderland a glimmer of hope in the closing stages with a strike from the edge of the box before Nmecha made sure of the win in stoppage time.
Speaking post-match Welsh refused to be downbeat and urged his side to learn from their mistakes ahead of Liverpool next Sunday.
“It was a difficult game and Manchester City brought a quality team,” he said.
“They paid us a compliment in terms of what we were up against and I thought in the first half we were a bit too nice at times.
“The first two goal were wonder strikes into the roof of the net and they were difficult. They didn’t really out play us but they scored two excellent goals.”
He continued: “In the second half we made it ugly and we got ourselves back into it and that was good to see.
“It was a really good development game, the pace and intensity was high and that’s good for us because it shows the kind of levels we need to reach.
“There were a lot of positives to take from the game but now it’s all about a response against Liverpool.”
