ROMELU LUKAKU’S 11 minute hat-trick left David Moyes stunned and frustrated before the Sunderland manager admitted he had not seen the second half collapse coming at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland are left sitting second bottom of the Premier League and winless ahead of Sunday’s trip to Tottenham after a 3-0 defeat to Everton which further fuelled concerns about relegation – even at this stage.

Moyes had already admitted after the defeat to Middlesbrough last month that his first season on Wearside is likely to be a relegation scrap and, after suffering a fourth game without a win in the league, and he is hoping for a turnaround soon.

Sunderland had defended relatively strongly in the first half but gaps appeared here, there and everywhere for Lukaku to score two headers and a low strike in quick succession after grabbing his first on the hour.

Moyes said: “We need some momentum. I wanted a result tonight because you can say, ‘they’ve done okay when you look back at the games.’

“And that’s why I’m more annoyed. Why for the last 25, 30 minutes did we capitulate, the back four, when it wasn’t on the cards? We hadn’t really seen that in other parts of the game.

“We just didn’t defend crosses well enough – whether it be stopping them, heading them or picking up in the box. We didn’t do those simple fundamentals well.

“We’ve worked on the (training) pitch about it and done it on the field. We didn’t do it well enough tonight.

“It was concerning but you’re also looking at a bit of a rebuild. A new right-back, a new centre-half, some inexperience. For an hour we kept at it. The bigger disappointment is we didn’t defend. It wasn’t special play.”

Sunderland are running out of time if they are to end the wait for a victory in either August or September for the first time since 2012 and Moyes knows the importance of getting a lift sooner rather than later.

He said: “I hoped it wouldn’t be a slow start. I hoped we’d get some points on the board and apart from tonight we haven’t really been out of any games. The other games we’ve always been in with a chance of a point or three. That was the disappointing thing for me.

“The positives I took were I thought we had some good play going forward. We didn’t always pick the right pass. We tried to get Adnan Januzaj closer to Jermain Defoe and I thought he had a good game.”

Lukaku ended a personal run of 1,139 minutes without a competitive goal to lift Everton up to third but Moyes couldn’t believe the hand Sunderland’s defence gave him to recapture his scoring touch.

He said: “I was more disappointed with the way we defended in the second half. If there’s things we have done it’s worked on crosses and defensive positions.

“We didn’t stop the crosses, didn’t defend the crosses. The boys picked the crosses out well but we weren’t in the middle of the goal to stop Lukaku heading them in.

“We got away with one not long before it. It was our corner kick. We had a chance of heading it in the net. It breaks, we lose a tackle on the edge of the box and we’re losing a goal.”

Koeman’s decision to introduce Gerard Deulofeu at half-time for the ineffective Ross Barkley proved a masterstroke as the former Barcelona youngster ran things and caused all sorts of problems with his movement. Barkley’s exit, having been left out of the England squad this month too, raised other concerns for the international team.

Koeman said: “He did not show the level I expect. It’s always difficult for the manager because he was not selected for the national team but I had to do something. He lost too many balls. But I will speak to Ross. It’s no problem.”

The Dutchman could not hide his satisfaction after Lukaku, his leading striker, started scoring again.

Koeman, whose side were watched by Middlesbrough head coach Aitor Karanka ahead of Saturday’s date with Middlesbrough, said: “In the first half there were two big chances. One for Defoe and a great cross from Yannick Bolasie for Romelu’s header.

“I had to change something. That was what I felt in my body. I’m happy about the second half because the players by themselves showed what our level can be. That’s not the level we showed in the first half.

“Romelu is a fantastic striker and sometimes it’s difficult when you’ve gone a long time not scoring for your club and everyone’s talking about that. You need to support your player so he’s comfortable in himself. He showed again he’s one of the best strikers you can have.”