Sunderland Under-23s hosted Leeds United at the Academy of Light yesterday for their first home game of the Premier League 2 campaign, where they suffered a 3-1 loss despite homegrown Jack Diamond making it onto the scoresheet.
Head coach Elliott Dickman had access to Arbenit Xhemajli once again, as well as George Dobson who is suspended from first-team duties.
It was Leeds who would come out victorious, after a well-taken hat-trick from Sam Greenwood.
Greenwood took the lead early on from inside the box, before scoring a free kick in the second half, and completing his trio moments later.
Diamond had the last major impact on the game, when he was brought down in the box in stoppage time. He stepped up himself, and converted the penalty into the bottom right corner, sending Elia Caprile the wrong way - two goals in two games from the youngster.
Despite the defeat, Dickman praised Sunderland's performance in a "good competitive game."
"Leeds' way of playing - and their shape - was tough for our lads to play against, but I thought we definitely dealt with it really well," he said.
"I'm really pleased with the first half, but the second half could have been a bit better."
He continued: "We just need to take a little bit more care with our decision making and our quality to work their goalkeeper a little bit more.
"There's plenty of positives from yesterday's game that we can pick into and use going forward.
"The areas where we feel like we need to get better, we'll definitely work hard on them."
Sunderland Under-23s next face local rivals Newcastle United U23s on October 5 away from home, at Newcastle United Academy.