Sunderland’s dream of five Championship wins out of five came to a halt on Saturday as Plymouth Argyle inflicted a late 3-2 defeat on Regis Le Bris’ side.
Despite going into half-time with a 1-0 lead thanks to Patrick Roberts’ penalty, Sunderland struggled in the second period and quickly found themselves 2-1 down.
Late on, Romaine Mundle thought he had rescued a point late on with an 86th-minute equaliser but Plymouth went ahead once again in added time to take all three points.
It was a rare bad performance from Le Bris’ side who had looked so good before the international break.
A victory at Plymouth would have seen Sunderland become the second-ever Championship to win their first five games. However, this clearly never came to be.
Looking back on the match, Le Bris was able to pinpoint where it went wrong for the Black Cats.
Sunderland were ‘too open’ and made ‘too many mistakes’ against Plymouth
While at times, many lower league sides may be able to scrap a win against the run of play, this wasn’t the case at Home Park.
In the second half, Plymouth came out the better side and Sunderland paid for their complacency.
Multiple errors were made including the penalty and the calamitous third goal. For a defence that had only conceded once in their first four games, it was a surprise, and this is what Le Bris pointed towards after the match.
“I am disappointed because it was a tough game but we scored twice,” he said. “It is never easy to score but we did it.
“We had many problems during the first half to control their wingers. It wasn’t easy to solve that problem and during the second half we conceded two goals on the defensive transition.
“We were too open and the opponent had too many opportunities to score.”
“Our fans were behind us as they always are,” he continued. “I want to thank them because during this tough game they were behind us and we felt their support.
“This is still important because we are in a process. The difference between a win and a defeat is very thin. Our process is still ongoing but we need to learn very quickly.
“We made some mistakes today that we have never made before so we will have many questions to solve this week.”
Sunderland need to make sure Plymouth defeat is just a blip
While there were plenty of negatives to take away from the match, there were also positives. Sunderland netted two goals again, with Mundle continuing to showcase his excellent form.
On top of this, the Black Cats took the lead for a fifth time this season, showing once again that they start games well.
The Championship campaign is always a marathon and not a sprint; defeats are always going to happen at some point.
What Le Bris now needs to ensure is that his squad learn from the game and improve. The derby against Middlesbrough on Saturday will be very telling as a reaction is clearly needed to get their season back on track.