Alex Neil and Kristjaan Speakman watch on as Sunderland U21s suffer heavy defeat to Aston Villa

Alex Neil and Kristjaan Speakman were both in attendance as Sunderland's youngsters were comfortably beaten by Aston Villa's Under 21's. The Black Cats went 2-0 down inside seven minutes as the visitors raced out of the blocks with two almost identical finished from Declan Frith.

Brad Young would add another for the .young Villa side just before the break to leave Sunderland with a mountain to climb in the second-half.

It was a baptism of fire for Sunderland's Under-21's who have had two interim managers inside two games. John Hewitson made seven changes from the young Sunderland side that tasted defeat against Norwich City on the opening day of the Premier League 2 campaign, handing handed Callum Wilson and Max Thompson their debuts for the club at PL2 level.

The visitors took the lead in somewhat controversial fashion. It looked as though Frith had strayed into an offside position, but the official's flag stayed down as the Villa wide man raced through onto a long punt up field, slotting the ball past Harrison Bond into the bottom right-hand corner from the edge of the area.

Villa would double their lead just five minutes later, again Frith had wandered in from the right hand side and found himself on space on the left-hand side of the box. He would roll the ball into the bottom right-hand corner with another cool finish into the bottom right of Bond's goal with great composure.

It took Sunderland a while to settle but they did grow into the game. Chances were few and far between, but Max Thompson did really well to hold the ball up on the edge of the box, rolling in Ethan Kachosa whose shot cannoned off the post.

It could, and probably should have been three with Frith causing problems again. He drifts inside from the