Simon Grayson was left to rue his side’s slow start as Cardiff City came away from the Stadium of Light with three points.
Sunderland were dealt a double blow ahead of kick-off, with the news that new signings Jonny Williams and Callum McManaman were absent from the matchday squad.
Williams was unable to play due to illness while McManaman was forced to withdraw through injury, forcing Grayson to shuffle his troops.
And Sunderland’s afternoon went from bad to worse when Craig Bryson latched onto Kenneth Zohore’s flick on off Neil Etheridge’s goal-kick, and the 30-year-old midfielder volleyed home with six minutes on the clock.
Sunderland responded well but had to wait until the second-half to respond, Lynden Gooch won and dispatched a penalty to get the lads back on level terms before Joe Ralls punished the Black Cats from 12 yards following a Lamine Kone foul 20 minutes from time.
Speaking post-match, Grayson delivered his verdict.
“When you lose another game at home it is not easy to take,” he said.
“We started the game slowly, six minutes after we had done a presentation on a goalkeeper who would kick it out long and look for it to be flicked on with runners from midfield.
“We did nothing to stop that from happening.
“To be fair the players got back on it and at least they showed some commitment and had a go.
“In the second half I thought we were a lot better,” he continued.
“We got the penalty and were on the front foot. We got done by a penalty where Lamine (Kone) needs to do better.
“We suffered disappointment this morning when Callum (McMananam) came out injured and Jonny (Williams) was ill.
“We had to make three changes at 12:30 to the team and we had to put together a formation that we thought would combat and deal with Cardiff because they are a strong, powerful team.
“We got off to a poor start but the formation doesn’t make you concede the goal. It is what you do with the first one and the second one after that.
“We decided to go 4-4-2 and we looked better because we stopped them from playing and we got tighter to people.
“We asked more questions of them but we have to learn from the mistakes we have made because every time we are making them we are being punished."