SIMON GRAYSON might be a boyhood Leeds United fan, but the Sunderland boss’ love affair with the West Yorkshire club is coming under serious strain.

Sacked from his position as manager at Elland Road in 2012, Grayson has now taken charge of six matches against his former employers and is still to experience a victory. To make matters worse, his most recent defeat robbed his new club, Sunderland, of their unbeaten start to the season.

If last week’s away games at Norwich and Sheffield Wednesday provided a welcome ray of light to banish some of the misery of the last few years, this was a jolting reality check highlighting the difficulties of life in the second tier.

The competitiveness of the Championship was apparent in Leeds’ ability to shake off the disappointment of the loss of last season’s leading goalscorer Chris Wood. Burnley-bound Wood left Leeds’ team hotel on the morning of the game, yet the club he is exiting managed perfectly fine without him.

That shows Sunderland cannot afford to take anything for granted this season, and their lacklustre showing also illustrated the deficiencies that remain apparent within their squad. Yes, there has been progress under Grayson, as evidenced by the Black Cats’ performances in their opening three league games. But the problems bequeathed by a succession of managers were never going to be eradicated in a couple of months.

Sunderland’s squad lacks depth throughout- hence the reluctance to make changes - and quality in a number of key areas. Grayson didn’t need Saturday’s result to tell him that, but with the transfer deadline now just ten days away, perhaps it will have provided a timely reminder to Martin Bain and Ellis Short that things are already starting to look stretched just three weeks into the season.

“Nobody was going to remain unbeaten,” countered Grayson, who was keen to avoid too much of a knee-jerk reaction to a first reverse. “We’ve tried to win the game and that’s a key factor – the players have shown a good attitude to try and win it, all that was missing was the decision making or quality where it really mattered.

“The Championship is going to be a long season for every club because there are so many games, and the level of opposition is at a high standard.

“It’s about putting some stability back into the club, and really trying to move the club along in a steady fashion rather than up and down. Don’t move too quickly, up or downwards. Try and progress it in a slow, steady manner, when you’re winning matches as well.”

Given Sunderland’s chaotic recent past, Grayson is right to preach the value of a level-headed approach, but there are still some key lessons to be learned from Saturday’s game, especially defensively.

The Black Cats lacked an attacking spark on occasion, with a wasteful Aiden McGeady in particular a notch or two below the levels he had been setting in the previous three matches, but it was at the other end of the field where things really unravelled.

Brendan Galloway will not want to sit through a re-run of his 55 minutes on the pitch, and while the Everton loanee has settled in reasonably well since moving from Merseyside earlier this summer, he was repeatedly found wanting as Leeds mercilessly targeted the area behind him.

Ezgjan Alioski caused a succession of problems on Sunderland’s left flank, and both Galloway and Lamine Kone were at fault as the Leeds midfielder broke clear in the 21st minute to set up Samuel Saiz for a clinically-taken opener.

Grayson switched George Honeyman to the left in an attempt to provide Galloway with some additional protection, but both Adam Matthews and a fit-again Bryan Oviedo will have to come into consideration for a change of personnel in the left-back berth.

“It’s never easy in the Championship, and Brendan’s done all right for us,” said Grayson. “He found it difficult against a difficult player, but I think we know with Aiden down that side he’s going to give you loads going forward and you want him to do that, but sometimes you have to sacrifice his defensive duties.

“It’s a learning curve for everyone. When we analyse it we won’t get too down, just as we didn’t get too carried away when we’ve been winning games over the last week or so.”

Saiz’s opener came just 60 seconds after Lewis Grabban hit the crossbar with a shot that deflected off the head of Leeds centre-half Liam Cooper, and had Sunderland claimed the lead instead of their opponents, things might well have been different.

As it was, Leeds dominated the rest of the first half, going close again when Alioski dragged a shot wide of the target, and shut out Sunderland after the break as their organisation and defensive strength came to the fore.

Felix Wiedwald kept out a decent effort from Lee Cattermole, but Leeds were always a threat on the break and doubled their lead with 14 minutes left as Stuart Dallas converted Saiz’s cross with a powerful back-post header.

Billy Jones had an opportunity to reduce the arrears in stoppage-time, but the full-back could only shoot into the side-netting after struggling to control a McGeady cross.

“Unfortunately, it’s another chance I’ve missed, which I’m extremely disappointed about,” said Jones. “On a personal level, I expect to score those chances

“It’s a test for the squad now, but that’s why we’re lucky to have a (Carabao Cup) game on Tuesday. The aim was to stay unbeaten until the international break, unfortunately that’s come undone.

“But we’ve got two games in a week now, and hopefully we can get two wins and go into the break in good form. I still think that would be classed as a good start.”