It was a game of two halves at the Stadium of Light but Sunderland were still unable to turn that into points as they slumped to a fifth successive defeat in the Championship following a 1-0 reverse against Leicester City.
Mike Dodds' side welcomed the Championship leaders to Wearside looking to arrest an alarming run of form but were undone by Jamie Vardy's header inside 15 minutes in what proved to be the only goal of the game at the Stadium of Light.
Vardy converted after Anthony Patterson had done well to deny Wout Faes' initial header as Enzo Maresca's side took a deserved lead.
Leicester were impressive in the opening stages of the game and threatened to make it another difficult evening for Sunderland who struggled to get to grips with things until the second half.
A double substitution from Dodds saw Adil Aouchiche and Romaine Mundle make a significant impact as the home side fought back into the contest, coming within inches of levelling the game when Trai Hume's long-range effort was brilliantly saved onto the bar by Mads Hermansen.
Sunderland enjoyed plenty of territory in Leicester's half in the second 45 minutes but were unable to find a breakthrough as the league leaders held on to end their own three-match losing streak.
It's a defeat which leaves Dodds without a win in three games since taking back over as interim head coach, with Sunderland now having lost five games in a row for the first time since 2015 ahead of another difficult fixture this weekend where they travel to St Mary's to face Southampton.
The latest We Are Sunderland briefing reflects on the defeat to Leicester, the need for a win, Chris Rigg's impact on his first start for Sunderland and what comes next:
You can view the video below or via our YouTube channel.
Read the rules here