Norwich City 1-0 Sunderland: Battling performance but Black Cats left facing stark reality after four defeats

Sunderland fell to their fourth Championship defeat in a row after Josh Sargent's late winer at Carrow Road on Saturday afternoon.

An injury-hit Black Cats side battled well in the main against their fellow play-off rivals, but were undone by a lack of cutting edge and some slack defending.

Here's the story of the game and it's key talking points from a Sunderland perspective...

A SURPRISE SELECTION AND A SOLID START

Dodds had spoken in the build up to the game and outlined why Luis Hemir had caught his eye behind the scenes, impressed with his improving fitness. He handed him a start here as a reward, returning to a more familiar 4-3-3 set up that saw Callum Styles play on the right wing.

The opening exchanges were cagey rather than enthralling, though that suited Sunderland more given their current away record and Norwich's recently excellent home form. It was the Black Cats who had the first meaningful effort, a shot corner routine that ended in Pierre Ekwah's long-range effort being comfortably saved.

NORWICH THREATEN BUT SUNDERLAND STAND FIRM

Norwich were dominating possession from the relatively early stages, but Sunderland were content for their back four to have the ball and press in a mid block when the ball came into midfield. Generally it worked in frustrating Norwich, denying them the space their wide players and two forwards were looking for. They were very fortunate when a poor clearance fell to Josh Sargent, his effort deflected just over the crossbar by Seelt. From the resulting corner, Giannoulis caught a volley on the edge of the box sweetly and saw it whistle just wide of the far post.

Patterson was being tested only sporadically and though the made a superb reflex save to deny Borja Sainz, the whistle was blown for a foul on O'Nien.

A SOLID FIRST HALF

Dodds would have been happy with a lot of what he saw in the first half, his Sunderland side organised and working hard to limit their opposition. Pierre Ekwah and Luke O'Nien in particular were impressing, and there had not been a great deal between the two sides at the interval.

The question was whether Sunderland could find another gear going forwards, their only real attempts of the half a couple of dangerous Trai Hume crosses and an effort from Mundle that flew well wide of the far post. Conditions were undoubtedly playing a part in a game not yielding a huge amount of chances, the driving rain beginning to create some standing water that was slowing the ball at times.

NORWICH TAKE CONTROL

Sunderland were perhaps fortunate to stay level through the early stages of the second half, almost caught out when a cross from the right flank dropped onto Patterson's crossbar. It was the hosts who reacted quickest, only an excellent block from O'Nien preventing them from going ahead on the rebound. Patterson then had to make a smart stop from Sara with the hosts in control.

Sunderland steadied and began to see more of the ball in the opposition half, but had a huge let off when Seelt played a pass right into the feet of Sara without around 25 minutes to play. Patterson was stranded having played the ball into Seelt, but the midfielder blazed over with the goal pretty much open. By now Dodds had introduced Rusyn and Ba for Mundle and Hemir, the latter not really able to impact the game in a meaningful way.

BA GOES CLOSE BUT NORWICH GO AHEAD

Sunderland had struggled to carve out too many chances in the first half but they were growing into the contest after a strong spell from the hosts and nearly got the opener when Ba showed some superb footwork on the left flank. From the byline he almost caught Gunn out with a clever effort, the goalkeeper just able to turn it onto the bar. Ekwah had half a chance from the rebound but couldn't make a good enough connection. Jobe then had the ball in the net after Sunderland capitalised on a poor pass from Gunn and though the offside flag was correctly raised, there were signs of real encouragement for the visitors.

That made their concession of a goal shortly after all the more frustrating, a simple cross into the box from the left flank that they couldn't really deal with. Twice the ball bounced in the box and eventually it was there for Sargent to fire home.

SUNDERLAND BATTLE WELL BUT LEFT FACING STARK REALITY

Sunderland finished strongly and had two half-decent openings when Rusyn headed straight at the goalkeeper. On balance, they were probably a little unfortunate to lose. There was a lot to like about this performance away from home and it's not here that the season has ebbed away. It did sum up the campaign on the whole, though, as they struggled to impact the final third. Injuries are currently biting hard and any side would miss the quality of Clarke and Roberts - combined with the ongoing striker struggles they look a long way short of the standard required to break into the top six.

This was a performance of endeavour and some promise against a strong opponent, but four defeats in a row tells its own story.

Sunderland XI: Patterson; Hume, Seelt, O'Nien, Hjelde; Neil, Ekwah, Jobe (Burstow, 86); Styles (Rigg, 73), Mundle (Ba, 65), Hemir (Rusyn, 65)

Subs: Bishop, Pembele, Aouchiche, Kelly, Lavery

Norwich City XI: Gunn; Stacey, Hanley, Gibson, Giannoulis; Sara, McLean; Fassnacht (Gibbs, 73), Sargent (McCallum, 88), Sainz (Sorensen, 88); Barnes (van Hooijdonk, 60)

Subs: Long, Batth, Fisher, Welch, Aboh

Bookings: Hume, 43 Ekwah, 58 Giannoulis, 76 Sorensen, 89 Seelt, 90

Attendance: 26,668 (1,673 away)