SUNDERLAND LADIES’ first home experience of life in the top-flight might not have ended in a victory, but in plenty of other ways, last night’s meeting with Manchester City could be regarded as an unqualified success.

A crowd of 1,433, which was an increase of more than 1,000 on most of the gates during last season’s WSL2 campaign, underlined the growing appetite for women’s football in the region, and more than justified the collective efforts that have enabled the Lady Black Cats to take up a place in the top division.

Nikita Parris’ first-half header might have condemned Sunderland to their first defeat of the season in the wake of last weekend’s opening-day win over Liverpool, but the fact that the hosts were able to match Manchester City for long periods augurs well. City, with a level of investment that bears comparison to their men’s side in terms of the rest of the women’s game, will almost certainly be challenging for the title come the autumn.

Survival is Sunderland’s aim, and it should be more than achievable on the evidence of their opening two outings. These remain early days, but any fears of the Lady Black Cats being outclassed at a higher level have already been dispelled.

In many ways, last night’s game provided a glimpse of Sunderland’s past, present and future. The past was visible in the sky blue of City, a team which has been built, to a great extent, on the fruits of Sunderland’s academy.

Wearsider Jill Scott, who was the pick of the players on display, and South Shields’ Demi Stokes, both established England internationals set to compete in this summer’s World Cup finals, were key figures in the visitors’ ranks, while England skipper Steph Houghton, raised in nearby South Hetton, watched on from the sidelines in her Manchester City tracksuit.

Houghton, currently recovering from a knee injury, has deservedly emerged as something of a poster girl for the women’s game. Last night, she made countless youngsters’ nights as she performed her ambassadorial role to a tee by posing for a succession of iPhone shots.

The England trio hark back to the days when Sunderland was a breeding ground for talent that was forced to leave the area to realise its ambition. The hope, with the Lady Black Cats now admitted to the Women’s Super League, is that the progress in the present will prevent the need for the current generation to head to pastures new.

Last week’s win over Liverpool represented the best possible introduction to life in the top-flight, and while Sunderland were unable to follow it up against City, the likes of Steph Bannon, Rachel Furness, Keira Ramshaw and Beth Mead represent a talented core that should ensure the club’s maiden WSL1 season is a success.

The future, for a club that has clawed its way kicking and screaming into the top-flight after the pain of rejection when the initial Super League franchises were selected, should be bright. Mead in particular, an England Under-23 international with realistic ambitions of a senior cap in the not-too-distant future, can be the flagbearer for a new generation of North-East talent that remains in the region.

Her pace and assurance in possession were key components of Sunderland’s best attacking moves last night, with her willingness to run into the channels repeatedly troubling a Manchester City defence regularly hailed as the best in the country.

With summer signing Brooke Chaplen working industriously in the number ten role, Sunderland carried a threat throughout, although it was City who scored the only goal of the game in the 20th minute.

Having defended adeptly up to that point, with skipper Bannon especially influential, the hosts will have been disappointed at the ease with which they passed up the opener.

Isobel Christansen delivered a corner from the right, the towering Scott flicked on at the front post, and Parris was unmarked inside the six-yard box as she headed home.

City would have doubled their lead two minutes later had Sunderland goalkeeper Rachael Laws not produced an excellent pinpoint save to keep out Sarah Wiltshire’s close-range shot, and the visitors went close again on the stroke of half-time when Toni Duggan latched on to Scott’s long pass, only to prod the ball past both Laws and the right-hand post.

Sunderland’s best chance of a first-half equaliser was thwarted when Alex Brook saved Mead’s 20-yard shot after the striker had driven through a gap in the City midfield, but while the hosts remained competitive throughout the second period, their attempts to break through their opponents’ rearguard became increasingly ragged.

City continued to fashion the best chances, with substitute Natasha Harding testing Laws from distance, Duggan forcing the Black Cats keeper into an acrobatic tip over the crossbar and Krystle Johnston hitting the woodwork in stoppage time.

SUNDERLAND (4-4-1-1): Laws; Holmes, Bannon, Sharp, V Williams; Ramshaw, Furness, McFadden, S Williams (Kelly 46); Chaplen; Mead.

Subs (not used): McDougall, Gutteridge, Greenwell, Black, Wilson, Bass.

MAN CITY ( 4-1-4-1): Brook; McManus (Lipman 82), Nightingale, Radtke, Stokes; Beattie; Parris, Scott, Christiansen, Wiltshire (Harding 60); Duggan (Johnston 71).

Sub (not used): Lipman.