CORRY EVANS and Bradley Dack stepped up their respective returns from injury by lining up for Sunderland Under-21s in their derby encounter with Newcastle United this afternoon.

However, the experienced duo were unable to prevent Newcastle’s second string from claiming a 3-2 victory in the Premier League 2 clash at the Academy of Light thanks to a double from Kyle Crossley and a header from Cathal Heffernan.

Evans, who has missed the whole of this season after undergoing cruciate ligament surgery in the spring, completed the first half of the game and scored Sunderland’s opening goal with an excellent long-range strike.

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Dack, who has been sidelined since Boxing Day because of hamstring issues, played for 55 minutes as part of an experienced Black Cats line-up that also featured Pierre Ekwah, Timothee Pembele and Mason Burstow.

Newcastle’s second-string side was much more inexperienced than the team it was lining up against, but with Lewis Miley’s younger brother, Jamie, playing at the heart of midfield, it was the visitors who triumphed on Wearside.

Newcastle opened the scoring after just seven minutes when a mix-up in the Sunderland defence enabled Crossley to steal possession and slot home from close range.

Sunderland’s equaliser came five minutes before the interval, and saw Evans fire home from 25 yards to ensure his 45-minute run-out ended on a high note.

Caden Kelly fired against the crossbar for the Black Cats shortly before half-time, with Pembele also having an effort ruled out for offside, but it was Newcastle who claimed the lead in first-half stoppage time. Miley swung over a corner from the left, and Heffernan thumped home a close-range header.

The Magpies extended their advantage midway through the second half, with Wearsider Crossley claiming his second goal of the game as he fired a low finish past Nathan Bishop after Amadou Diallo slid a cross into the middle.

Sunderland struck back in stoppage time as Oli Bainbridge crossed to the back post, enabling Joe Ryder to tap home his third goal in the last five reserve games from close range.

Boss Graeme Murty didn't hide his disappointment at the full time whistle, he said: "Really disappointed because we had more than enough talent on the pitch, enough possession, more than enough opportunities and we gave three really bad goals away.

“My reflections are there were some really good bits and our bad bits kind of outweighed those, which is unfortunate but is a lesson for our young players.”

When asked about his message to the players at the full-time whistle, Murty said: “I’m just trying to be honest with them, I’m honest with them when they are good and I tell them when they’re good, and I tell them when they have actually let themselves down a little bit. I thought they let themselves down in terms approach and intensity of thought, their mentality to move the ball quickly.

“I thought they were self indulgent at times with the ball, but when we actually accelerated the game we created so many opportunities, but we need to be clinical.

“One of the challenges today was to be clinical. After having a bad start, we step on and score a really good goal from Corry. We hit the bar, have more chances. Then the first time they go over the halfway line in 10, 15 minutes they score from a corner and we don’t defend it properly. It’s a good cross and good header but we just didn’t defend it properly. Once again we take one step forward and two back.”

Sunderland’s Under-21 side return to action on Friday evening when they host Leicester City at Eppleton CW, with Newcastle’s Under-21s also in action on the same night when they head to Bishop Auckland’s Heritage Park to take on Middlesbrough.