Sunderland 0-1 Hull City: 'Sacked in the morning' chants, more injury woe and attacking failings continue

Sunderland's poor form continued on Friday night as they fell to defeat against fellow play-off contenders Hull City.

Fabio Carvalho's deflected strike was enough to earn Liam Rosenior's side three points from what as a game of poor quality at the Stadium of Light. Here's the story of the game and its key talking points from a Sunderland perspective...

BRIGHT START BUT NO GOALS

Though Abdoullah Ba's exclusion from the starting XI was perhaps a surprise given his impressive performance against Ipswich Town, Sunderland did start this game much the better of the two sides. There were some noticeable tweaks to the set up, with Dan Neil pushing right up the pitch alongside Jobe alongside him. With Pritchard darting infield from the right flank, the hosts did look dangerous.

Hull, without a centre forward in the starting XI, had no out ball and were getting nowhere against Sunderland's high press. Sunderland had the first meaningful effort of the game when Pritchard was able to drive into the box, but in the end his effort was straight at Allsop. The early signs were promising, but that didn't last.

HULL FLICKER BUT GAME DRIFTS TOWARDS THE INTERVAL

Sunderland's pressing began to drop off and though Hull weren't threatening the goal, they began to see far more of the ball the home crowd began to get increasingly frustrated by the lack of intensity in front of them. The visitors went close to taking the lead when Coyle was able to burst into the box from the right-back position, but on the stretch he couldn't generate enough power to beat Patterson low to his right. And that, as far as the first half went, was pretty much that.

Pritchard went close right on the stroke of half time after a neat 1-2 with Jenson Seelt, but otherwise it was a dire game to watch. Both sides were having spells of possession but never particularly close to the opposition goal, and it was hard to see where a goal was coming from. A flat, turgid contest - though Sunderland had undoubtedly been the better side and in fairness, four of their promising counters were stopped by crude challenges. By half time, Hull City had five yellow cards.

SUNDERLAND START TO TURN THE SCREW - BUT HULL TAKE THE LEAD

The second half started much the same as the first, neither side showing any signs of getting on the scoresheet. It wasn't until the hour mark that Sunderland began to start pushing Hull back towards their own goal, and in a flurry of attacks they should have taken the lead. An excellent long-range effort from Hume was well saved by Allsop, before the full back had an effort deflected just wide when he met Clarke's low cross inside the box. Ballard was first to the following corner and perhaps should have done better, nodding his effort just wide of the post.

Hull, with numerous injury issues, were beginning to look tired and were struggling to get up the pitch. And so typically, they went and scored. Sunderland failed to clear their lines from a corner and the ball broke kindly for Carvalho, whose deflected effort found the top corner and left Patterson with no chance. The goal was particularly tough for Sunderland to take given that there appeared to be a foul on Patterson by Sharp in the build up to the corner.

Fans had been frustrated with the performance and the goal changed the mood instantly, with pockets of the ground signing 'sacked in the morning' and 'we want Beale out' - albeit briefly.

STORM CLOUDS GATHERING OVER THE STADIUM OF LIGHT

Hull barely entered the Sunderland half after their goal, with the home side completely dominant in terms of both possession and territory. Significant chances, though, were few and far between.

It was a game that Sunderland should never have lost - Hull barely tested Patterson and for the second half they were barely able to even get on the ball. And yet it's also true that their squad has been ravaged by a combination of injury, transfer exits and the African Cup of Nations. True, also, that Sunderland did not do enough to win the game even if they had the better of the chances.

Most worryingly, it was a performance that did nothing to suggest that Sunderland are getting any closer to solving their attacking woes in the final third. If anything, they have gone backwards since Tony Mowbray's departure. It has left fans exasperated and though it's still all to play for this season, this was a damaging result. Hull have leapfrogged Sunderland in the table and the Black Cats will almost certainly slip further on Saturday afternoon. The full-time whistle was met by loud boos and more chants of 'we want Beale out' from some areas of the ground.

AND YET MORE INJURY WOE

After withdrawing from training on Wednesday, Aji Alese was unavailable for this game and Beale confirmed in his pre-match interview with Sky that the defender was likely to be missing for at least a month.

It leaves Sunderland without a fit left back in their squad, forcing Trai Hume out of position (in fairness, he did very well in the second half here). That has now surely become a priority position in the window.

Sunderland XI: Patterson; Seelt (Pembele, 80), Ballard, O'Nien, Hume; Neil, Ekwah (Ba, 81); Pritchard, Jobe, Clarke; Rusyn (Hemir, 71)

Subs: Bishop, Burstow, Bennette, Aouchiche, Triantis, Rigg

Hull City XI: Allsop, Coyle, Greaves, Jones, Slater, Morton, Docherty, Lokilo (Allahyar, 88), Tufan (Sharp, 66), Jacob, Carvalho (McLoughlin, 83)

Subs: Ingram, Vaughan, Smith, Green, Sellars-Fleming, Ashbee

Bookings: Tufan, 17 Docherty, 30 Coyle, 31 Morton, 39 Slater, 42 Ekwah, 47 Allsop, 82 Sharp, 88 Clarke, 90

Attendance: 40, 219