Sunderland's Dan Neil makes Ross Stewart admission as Cats try to adapt with Leeds United loanee Joe Gelhardt

The Black Cats recorded 71% possession during a 2-1 defeat at Coventry but struggled to break their opponents down for large spells at the CBS Arena.

Leeds United loanee Joe Gelhardt once again led the line for Tony Mowbray’s side, with the 20-year-old trying to link up with Patrick Roberts, Jack Clarke and Amad.

When asked about Stewart’s absence and how much it has changed Sunderland’s approach in games, Neil told the Echo: “It’s not so much to pass to feet, it’s in behind. He’s got that pace, those long legs. I think that was perfectly illustrated against Middlesbrough when he won that penalty.

“Teams can afford to push up and lock us in because they know we don’t really have that natural runner in behind.

“They are all brilliant, Amad, Pat, Clarky, Joffy but they all want the ball to feet. It allows teams to just squeeze in and kind of leave the space in behind because they kind of know that no one is going to run into it.

“That’s the big thing that we miss with Ross, but as I said I don’t want to keep going on about Ross because we don’t have him and that’s a full stop at the end of the day."

On Gelhardt, Neil added: "Obviously Joffy is a little bit different, he wants to come and get involved in the build-up and that’s the cards we’ve been dealt, we need to figure out a way to play to Joffy’s strengths and I’m sure once we figure that out he’ll score a lot of goals for us.

“We need to find a way with the players that we’ve got to score goals and be a bit more threatening in and around the box.”

The defeat at Coventry ended a relentless run of seven games in 22 days for Sunderland, including four games away from home.

Mowbray will now have more time to prepare for next weekend’s home game against Stoke, managed by former Black Cats boss Alex Neil, as the side look to bounce back following two consecutive defeats.

“Saturday, Tuesdays are tough but we had a lot of them last year as well,” Dan Neil added when asked about Sunderland’s busy schedule. “It’s a young squad and not many people have experienced Saturday, Tuesdays every week.

“We can’t get too down about these results, we just need to use this week to get our heads back, get the work in on the training pitch and hopefully when Stoke come to the Stadium of Light we get the best result possible.

“From there it’s not looking at the table, it’s just looking at the next game and can we win that?, and so on and so on.”

The defeat against Coventry saw Sunderland drop to ninth in the table, four points off the play-off places with 12 matches remaining.