Patrick Roberts played for an hour but could not prevent Sunderland U23s slipping to a third straight league defeat as Stoke City U23 won comfortably at Eppleton. January signing Roberts was included in the starting XI because he is desperately in need of gametime if he is to play a meaningful part in the Black Cats' League One campaign.
But Sunderland were comprehensively outplayed by the Potters, with only a string of saves from Jacob Carney preventing the visitors running riot. As it was, Emre Tezgel put Stoke ahead inside the opening quarter-hour, and Douglas James-Taylor added the second from the penalty spot after half-an-hour having been felled by Zak Johnson's clumsy foul.
The impressive James-Taylor then made it 3-0 inside the final ten minutes. Sunderland have now picked up just one point from their last five Premier League 2 games, and sit 12th in the table.
