Making sense of a frustrating week for Sunderland - the positives and the transfer call causing major issues right now

It's hard not to sympathise with a head coach and a group of players who are starting every game giving an advantage to their opponent in both boxes: this was the afternoon it caught up with them.

Perhaps it's a little disrespectful to Swansea City to focus on the absence of a centre forward in the Sunderland ranks. The chasm between the two sides in the first half an hour of this game was so great that it's a stretch to think that even the exceptional all-round game of Ross Stewart would have been able to bridge it.

The hosts were a joy to watch, unless you'd traveled seven hours amid a national rail strike to watch their opponents: a striking vision of loyalty and devotion.

Sunderland grasped at shadows, yellow cards gathered and chances ceded aplenty. As had been the case in the second half at Blackpool, a lack of presence in the final third was merely one of a few significant structural issues. Mowbray hinted after that he'd perhaps erred in his selection here, knowing that there was a risk Swansea City's extra midfielder would allow them to seize control. His gamble was that if

Sunderland could get on the ball they'd have the overload in wide areas, where there would be space for their wingers to thrive.

It didn't work, but the frustration that was even as Sunderland began to take possession towards half time they were too often getting nowhere with it. Too often Roberts or Clarke got the ball with a host of white shirts already bearing down on them, and with no one in the box to realistically aim for.

Mowbray was exasperated with Swansea's second on the brink of half time, a set piece routine for which his players had specifically been briefed. It was a goal that had been coming all the same. The other side of Sunderland's strikerless coin is that the opposition know they have have the chance to dominate aerially. Only some poor finishing and some excellent saves from the ever-impressive Anthony Patterson have prevented a goal like this from happening before, Mowbray talking openly in midweek about how difficult it is for his side to win the first contact without Stewart or Ellis Simms. It's the same from their own goal kicks, another factor in Swansea's domination of the opening exchanges.

Sunderland have competed in each and every one of their Championship fixtures but you feared this might be the day a game finally ran rapidly away from them.

Not so - the improvement all over the pitch (or at least following another excellent Patterson save) dramatic. Sunderland were spirited, a constant threat and underlined why even at the end of a frustrating week the pervading sense is of a young team ultimately trending upwards.

Mowbray made no substitutions but one significant change, Jack Clarke moving into the middle of the pitch. It's not a natural role for him but it is one he is played at Spurs in Premier League 2, one of the reasons in fact he was recruited last January. Sunderland's head coach is loathed to move him out of the areas where he as proved so difficult to contain this season but from the off he gave his side a focal point, not a traditional target man but someone who could least turn the opposition defence and occupy their defenders. Swansea City found it harder to play out from the back and now operating further up the pitch, players like Dan Neil and Elliot Embleton were suddenly dropping onto second balls and playing incisive passes. This is the side we have so enjoyed this season, both tenacious and fearless.

This turning of the tide was not definitive. After a chance to regroup and turn to their bench Swansea City regained some of that initial composure, and on the break they were by the end as likely to score as Sunderland were. They were on balance of play more than deserving of the win, one that takes them to within striking distance of the automatic promotion places.

For Sunderland there is disappointment but no panic. It was to their credit that Swansea City boss Russell Martin said the second half had at times been 'quite painful' for his side, and Mowbray rightly pointed out that his players had again shown they can compete with anyone in the division.

This is not yet, he fairly added, a top team in this division that can expect to dominate and win away games time after time. There has been a slight regression in results this week but a currently comfortable midtable position has been well earned.

The frustration is that this search for a striking solution that is occupying Mowbray feels like a setback that is largely self-inflicted. Sunderland were close to adding Nathan Broadhead on a permanent deal this summer but by deadline day there were no longer actively pursuing a new striker, with Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman reasoning that they had Amad and Leon Dajaku to offer cover.

Mowbray clearly has major reservations about playing the latter through the middle and he was left out of the matchday squad on Saturday. After a promising but inconsistent first season on Wearside it is a tough ask to expect him to step up another level and then do so in a different position. And while Amad clearly has quality in abundance his best work is being done when he has another player alongside him. Then he can drop deep and drift out wide, bring opposition defenders with him and begin to create space.

Sunderland's recruitment over the last four windows has been transformative and for the better but at times they have taken unnecessary gambles and this one has cost them points. Mowbray spoke at length about the issue on Thursday and was right to say that it is far too simplistic to assume that striker = goals = points. Many have occupied that space for Sunderland and produced little. Perhaps in time Amad will settle and those exciting attributes will begin to work in tandem with Stewart, Simms or both and the net benefit over the course of a season will far outweigh the challenges that have been presented in this testing week. Mowbray has spoken of Amad bursting onto the scene at some stage and in the moments he effortlessly drifts past players that you believe him wholeheartedly.

Perhaps this just speaks to where Sunderland are right now, experiencing some teething issues as they look to build a squad in the long term that can into the upper reaches of this division. The second half here was a welcome reminder of how they've come in a relatively short time. This, you suspect, is going to be one of the more enjoyable seasons of recent times.

Bumps in the road were anticipated, but by the end of January Mowbray needs his Sporting Director to leave him and his squad a little less vulnerable.