Mancini left baffled by loss to Sunderland

Titus Bramble of Sunderland challenges Micah Richards, top, and Carlos Tevez of Manchester City during the match, which the home side won thanks to a last-minute penalty from Darren Bent.

SUNDERLAND // Roberto Mancini cut a frustrated if not furious figure as Manchester City's unbeaten start to the season came unstuck at the Stadium of Light against a Sunderland side who celebrated their first Premier League win of the campaign. It is over a year since Sunderland last won a League match without Darren Bent scoring, and the England striker maintained that trend by converting a stoppage-time penalty after he was fouled by Micah Richards, the City right-back.

A measure of City's dominance over Sunderland was that the previous time they lost to them, nearly a decade ago, the Black Cats' chairman was spearheading the home side's attack. Niall Quinn, of course, is a revered figure at both clubs, having plied his trade with City before moving to Wearside. Yesterday, he witnessed a dramatic finish to a game City ought to have had sewn up by half time. That they did not was due largely to an astonishing miss by Carlos Tevez, the captain, who somehow scooped the ball over an open goal from around 10 yards in the 16th minute, and the indefatigable defiance of Simon Mignolet, the Sunderland's goalkeeper.

The Belgian Under-21 international was inspired, producing an outstanding save 11 minutes from time to deny substitute Emmanuel Adebayor. It was pure reaction as Mignolet, signed from Sint-Truiden for £1 million (Dh5.7m) this summer, turned away Adebayor's flick inside the six-yard box. City's lavish spending has topped £300m after Mancini invested around £130m this summer. Yet they are already five points behind Chelsea, the leaders, in the table, and Mancini admitted: "I think football is very strange.

"We played some fantastic football in the first half and we had three or four great chances, but if you don't score you can lose games like this. "We had a chance with Carlos and we had other situations where we could have scored in the first-half. "But you must play until the end. I want to speak to the players when they come back from the international break because, in the second half, it was too easy for Sunderland to play their football.

"I would prefer that we had seven points, but we have played only three games. It's important we understand why we lost this game.'' For Steve Bruce, the Sunderland manager, victory was tainted by a suspected knee-ligament injury to Fraizer Campbell. Bruce, who is interested in Asamoah Gyan, Rennes' Ghanian striker, will seek an urgent replacement for Campbell before the transfer window closes tomorrow.

Bruce said: "I'm delighted, it was a great performance from us. We rode our luck with the Tevez miss: I don't think he'll miss a chance like that again. We also needed the keeper to produce a fantastic save. "But it looks as if Fraizer has damaged knee ligaments. With that, it's imperative we try to bring a body in because we're short there.'' Bruce said of City: "They will be there or thereabouts, but there are some good teams in the Premier League and they found that out here.''

Mancini, meanwhile, confirmed that forwards Robinho and Roque Santa Cruz could leave City before the transfer deadline, but that he wants to hold on to Shay Given, the goalkeeper who has been linked with Fulham. He said: "I would prefer Shay to stay, but I spoke with Roque and he has two or three situations, and Robinho is the same. " We have offers for Roque and Robinho, but I don't know whether they will remain with me.''