CHRIS COLEMAN admits the odds are firmly stacked against Sunderland as they look to scramble to survival at the foot of the Championship, but the Black Cats boss is adamant he does not want to have to make “any more excuses” in the final five games of the season.

Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Leeds United has left the Wearsiders seven points adrift of safety with five games remaining ahead of tomorrow night’s home meeting with Norwich City.

After hosting the Canaries, Sunderland have to tackle Reading, Burton Albion, Fulham and Wolves, and there is a good chance they will have to claim at least four victories to survive. Given they have only won six Championship matches all season, that is clearly a hugely difficult task, and most leading bookmakers make the club 1-100 to go down.

Coleman was satisfied with his side’s display at Elland Road at the weekend, with Paddy McNair opening the scoring at the start of the second half before Pablo Hernandez levelled for Leeds. However, he concedes a return of just one point has made life extremely difficult.

“We’re not daft, and there’s no sentiment in football,” said the Black Cats boss, who continues to insist he wants to remain at the Stadium of Light beyond the end of the season, come what may. “For us to stay up, we’ve got to win just as many games as we have all season, really.

“It’s a big, big test for us, and you wouldn’t put money on us, but hey, we can only keep performing like that. We will win games if we do. Whether we’ll run out of games, I don’t know, but we haven’t run out of games yet.

“You saw our support at Leeds – they don’t deserve any of us throwing the towel in just because there’s a points gap. We’ve got to give it everything we’ve got. Our supporters appreciate a bit of heart and passion. They’ve got that in the last two or three games, so we’ve got to emulate that between now and the end of the season. The results will be what they’ll be – we just have to take care of the performances.”

Those performances have improved in the last couple of weeks, and while it might well be a case of too little, too late, at least there are positive signs that augur reasonably well for the long-term future.

The likes of McNair and Lynden Gooch have returned to the starting line-up to produce some eye-catching displays, and perhaps more importantly, a semblance of fight and spirit has emerged that has been all-but-impossible to discern for the majority of the campaign.

Some will justifiably claim that it is easy to roll up your sleeves when the game is as good as up, but after repeatedly pleading with his players to start showing some bottle, Coleman concedes he has been unable to criticise their efforts in the last three games.

“I’m very reluctant to use the word ‘difficult’ (when talking about Sunderland’s situation) because I don’t like making excuses,” he said. “We deserve to be where we are. It’s not five or ten games (where they have underperformed), so I’ve got no complaints or excuses.

“I just don’t want to have to make any excuses between now and the end of the season either. I just want the lads to keep playing like that. If you’re a manager or coach, that’s what you’re looking for.

“Sometimes, you don’t get a pass off or miss an open goal or whatever, but what you want from a group of players is them playing with their sleeves rolled up. It’s never enough just to have ability, you’ve got to have a set of ‘you know what’. You’ve got to have courage, and be prepared to go above and beyond.

“You never get anything under the radar, and we’ve been under the radar too often this season – too inconsistent. But there’s no complaints from me about my players in the last three games, they’ve given me what they’ve got.”

Gooch was especially impressive on Saturday, with his dynamic bursts down the right-hand side forming a key part of Sunderland’s attacking threat. He helped set up McNair’s opener with an intelligent back-heel, and also produced a fine first-half cross that resulted in Aiden McGeady firing in a header that was saved.

Gooch featured in seven of Coleman’s first eight matches as manager, but found himself dropped to the Under-23 ranks at the end of January. He successfully regrouped in the reserves, and Coleman has been impressed with the 22-year-old’s willingness to go back to the drawing board in an attempt to improve his game.

“Lynden was superb,” he said. “He’s always had that energy, but now there’s an end product with it. The options he’s choosing are more and more the right ones rather than running around with his head down and losing it. He’s got a lot better.

“I’ve got to take my hat off to Lynden because all the talk was about Joel Asoro and Josh Maja, and I was the one who put him in the team in the first place so it was probably my own fault. Lynden then lost his place and he came and had a conversation with me. I told him what I wanted, and he’s gone away and delivered it.

“He’s played in the Under-23s, worked on the things I asked him to, and he's got his chance and taken it. He’s a classic example to any younger player. You want to see younger players doing that, and he’s come on the scene in the last three performances and been terrific, good for him – I’m pleased for him.”

If the worst happens in the next four weeks, Gooch is one of the players who could well form the heart of next season’s squad in League One.

The likes of Donald Love, George Honeyman and McNair also form a youthful core that should provide something to build from next term, and Coleman expects the next five matches to help him make firm decisions about the direction he wants to pursue no matter what happens in terms of the league table.

“Come what may, even if we pull it off, we’ve got to rebuild,” he said. “If we’re rebuilding from this league or the league below, there are still changes that need to be made and it won’t really change a lot.

“The thing that will really change how we rebuild is what happens above me, and we’re all in the dark on that one. We’ve got to wait and see.”