SUNDERLAND will reflect on the way they started and finished Sunday's game against Ipswich Town and wonder how on earth they fell to an opening day defeat.

Unfortunately for the Black Cats, it was what happened in between their encouraging start and spirited finish that proved costly.

Despite the 2-1 defeat, Mowbray won't have to look too hard for positives but with a new season also comes a familiar problem - how to crack the code at home.

Last season’s top six finish was all the more impressive for Mowbray’s Black Cats when you consider their record on Wearside. Relegated Reading picked up more points on home turf than Sunderland, who lost as many as they won at the Stadium of Light.

Addressing that issue was one of Mowbray’s priorities coming into this season but last term’s shortcomings were still evident on Sunday – though spirited Sunderland did make a real fist of it late on, despite going down to 10 men when Trai Hume was sent off.

Sunderland showed flashes of their attacking brilliance and swarmed all over the visitors in an encouraging opening but struggled to turn promise and possession into clear cut chances and Ipswich’s back-up keeper Vaclav Haldky, in for the injured Christian Walton, was hardly tested until Dan Neil found the net five minutes from time, sparking a late charge on the visiting goal.

But Ipswich dug deep and managed to see out 13 minutes of stoppage time to celebrate an impressive 2-1 win thanks to goals late in the first half and early in the second.

Unlike the second half of last season, Sunderland did have a recognised striker in their ranks with summer signing Hemir leading the line, but the teenager struggled to get into the game. Ipswich frontman Nathan Broadhead, well known in these parts, had no such issue. He scored the first for the Tractor Boys in first half stoppage time and created the second for George Hirst in the early stages of the second half. Sunderland’s afternoon turned from bad to worse when Hume was sent off.

At that stage, Sunderland were in danger of going under but it says a lot about the spirit and character of Mowbray’s young side that they managed to make a fight of it and by the time the final whistle finally arrived Ipswich were clinging on.

The way Sunderland started and finished the game will encourage Mowbray but what happened in between will concern the boss. They lacked cutting edge up-front and looked shaky at the back for the most part.

In midfield Pierre Ekwah started this season as he finished last with an impressive showing. But the fact Sunderland finished the game with Jack Clarke playing up-front highlights the obvious issue that must be addressed between now and the end of the transfer window.

The visit of Ipswich always had the look of being a tough opener. The Tractor Boys have arrived in the Championship with momentum and big ambitions and aren’t likely to be keen on settling for a season of consolidation after firing more than 100 goals on their way to promotion from League One last term.

And yet the opening stages appeared sobering early evidence to Ipswich of the gulf in class between League One and the Championship. The visitors averaged more possession than any team in the third tier last year but Sunderland had 70% of the ball as they quickly took control.

For all their eye-catching play, however, Sunderland struggled to create clear cut openings. The best in the first half fell the way of Bellingham, who missed a glorious opportunity to open his and Sunderland’s account for the season at the midway point of the first period. After Ipswich keeper Haldky could only parry an Ekwah shot from the distance, the goal was gaping for Bellingham but the teenage summer recruit couldn’t keep his rebound down.

Despite dominating possession, Sunderland looked vulnerable at the back and Ipswich – who grew into the game in the opening period – had their moments before breaking the deadlock in first half stoppage time.

Their opener would have come half an hour earlier had it not been for the brilliance of Luke O’Nien, who came to the home side’s rescue with a superb goalline clearance to somehow stop Leif Davis’s volley finding the bottom corner.

Sunderland continued to probe but Ipswich always posed a threat on the counter. Mowbray, though, will have been satisfied with the opening 45 minutes, only for his teamtalk to go up in smoke in the first minute of first half stoppage time. A long throw from the right was only cleared as far as Davis on the edge of the box and his effort was stabbed home by Broadhead.

After scoring the first goal, Broadhead laid on the second eight minutes into the second half, playing the ball into the path of debutant Hirst to lash home.

It very nearly got even worse for Sunderland just moments later when Conor Chaplin’s audacious 40-yard effort caught Patterson off his line and crashed back off the crossbar.

Mowbray introduced Alex Pritchard and Abdoullah Ba for Hemir and Bellingham as he tried to turn the tide but Sunderland, so dominant early on, were now the team chasing shadows and any hopes of an unlikely comeback appeared to disappear when Hume was sent off after picking up his second yellow card for a pull-back on Davis just after the 70 minute mark.

But Sunderland demonstrated their character on countless occasions last season and made a fist of it, Neil halving the deficit five minutes from time. The home side threw bodies forward and Neil so nearly scored a dramatic leveller in the 101st minute when his volley crashed back off the post