Sunderland Under-18s suffered a 2-1 defeat to Blackburn Rovers at the Academy of Light.
Lewis Bell and Matthew Litherland confirmed three points for Rovers with both goals coming in the opening ten minutes.
Under-16 forward, Marcus Neil grabbed a goal back for the young Black Cats midway through the first-half.
Sunderland AFC: Metcalf, Lavery (Parker), Holcroft, Beattie, Lightfoot, Jones (Walsh), Hunt, Chung (Mitchell), Neild (Whittaker), Obolo (Jenson Jones), Neil