DANNY Collins has admitted that Sunderland's youngsters will struggle to avoid the occasional setback as they adapt to the hurly-burly of life in the Championship.

Collins made his third start since moving from League Two strugglers Chester on Friday night as Millwall battled to a 2-0 win that ended the Black Cats' six-game unbeaten run.

Yet, despite his inexperience, the 24-year-old was still the elder statesman of a defence that had to be extensively remodelled because of injuries to skipper Gary Breen and first-choice full-back Stephen Wright.

Twenty-year-old Neill Collins joined another 24-year-old, Stephen Caldwell, at the heart of defence, while 23-year-old Mark Lynch slotted in at right-back to complete one of the youngest back fours in the club's history.

The quartet struggled to deal with the marauding runs of striker Jo Tessem but, with manager Mick McCarthy having placed his faith in Sunderland's youngsters, Collins is confident his fellow newcomers will rise to the challenge.

"I was the oldest defender in the side," said the North Wales-born stopper, who went to the same school as Real Madrid striker Michael Owen. "So that tells a bit of a story about the way the manager's building for the future.

"We're a young side - all of the players the gaffer's brought in are young - so it's always going to be a bit of a learning curve at first.

"But we'd won three games in a row before losing at Millwall so I think things need to be kept in a bit of perspective.

"The defence we played on Friday night had never played together and it's never easy to get an understanding going straight away.

"A couple of lads came into the team because of injury and it's never straight-forward to make changes like that overnight.

"I thought Neill came in and did well, and I thought Mark was unfortunate with the penalty, but we obviously conceded two goals and that's disappointing.

"It's hard to say whether or not the likes of Gary Breen or Stephen Wright would have made a difference, but I don't think you can really blame the defeat on the defence alone."

For the second year in a row, Sunderland found themselves unsettled by the physicality of Millwall's approach on Friday night.

Julio Arca spent most of the game involved in a tit-for-tat tussle with Millwall's Kevin Muscat, while stand-in skipper Carl Robinson was lucky not to see red after thrusting a hand in the face of perennial pest Dennis Wise.

Ironically, Collins is no stranger to the rougher side of the game after spending the first three months of the season fighting to make his name in English football's basement.

But, after watching Millwall barge their way to success last weekend, the youngster admits Sunderland might have to toughen up on their travels if they are not to suffer similarly rude awakenings when they visit the likes of Stoke and Cardiff before the end of the year.

"It was a really tough game," said Collins. "But maybe they battled a bit more than us at times and that made a difference.

"We didn't seem to have a cutting edge in the second half. We've had that at home recently but, for some reason, it seemed to go missing on Friday night and we'll have to have a look at that.

"We've been playing really well of late, but you've got to go to places like Millwall and battle and, overall, I don't think we showed enough of that fight.

"They seemed to succeed with their tactics. We were out-battled a bit and that was disappointing."

Sunderland will now turn their attention towards next weekend's trip to Leicester, with Breen and Wright likely to be back in contention following their thigh problems and striker Stephen Elliott hoping to be fit after an X-ray on his injured foot showed no broken bones.

"It's another away game and we've got to make sure we don't feel sorry for ourselves and let one setback turn into something bigger," said Collins.

"There's a determination about the lads though. There's only one way to make up for Friday night - and that's to do the business down at Leicester and get back to winning ways."

* Stuart Gray toasted a maiden victory as Wolves caretaker manager but sidestepped whether he wanted to be considered for the full-time post at Molineux.

Former Southampton manager Gray watched the home side edge out fellow midlands strugglers Nottingham Forest 2-1, days after Dave Jones was sacked with the club languishing in the lower reaches of the Coca-Cola Championship.

But he has not even applied officially to become Wolves' fifth manager in ten years.

''My brief was to take temporary charge and I've not applied for the job,'' Gray said. ''They know where I am, they've got my CV on record. It's a very attractive job and I expect there will be some top names wanting it.

''Do I want the job? I'm just going to keep straight batting that and try to enjoy this win.''

Paul Jewell's Wigan relinquished English football's last unbeaten record this season when they went down 2-0 at home to Plymouth. Jewell was gracious in defeat, after Paul Wotton and Stevie Crawford netted at the JJB Stadium. ''The players deserve all the credit for going 17 games unbeaten but we were beaten by a better team.''

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