ADAM Johnson is adamant Monday night's thrashing at Aston Villa won't undo the progress Sunderland have made since Paolo Di Canio's appointment and insists the squad are keen to make up for it by ensuring their Premier League status against Stoke City.

Two wins in Di Canio's first three games lifted Sunderland away from danger, but the defeat to Paul Lambert's struggling side clawed back the gap and the Black Cats are now locked on 37 points along with Villa and Newcastle - five above Wigan in the final relegation spot.

The Wearsiders have looked a side transformed since the arrival of the Italian, making the manner of their second half capitulation at Villa Park even more surprising.

It was their heaviest defeat of the season and saw the return of bad habits that had put them in a dangerous position in the first place, and ultimately cost Martin O'Neill his job.

Johnson, though, insists the result was a one off and believes it will drive the squad on to reach the 40-point mark with a win over Stoke on Monday night.

"I don't think it will un-do the good work. Everyone has a bad game. We can only look forward and not back," he said.

"Nobody went into Monday's game feeling complacent. I didn't think any of us felt like that.

"We have got to look at the positives. Every team has nightmare game a season. We haven't lost by a lot of goals this season. I know we've lost a few, but it's never been the case when we have been totally outplayed.

"So we need to forget about Villa and use it to drive us on.

"The manager told us to really get our heads down now, put that behind us and work on some of the things that we hadn't obviously been as good at as we were in our previous matches.

"A win on Monday against Stoke changes everything again."

Sunderland's second half performance was littered with sloppy defending and individual errors that gifted Villa opportunities in front of goal, something they seemed to have cut out in previous games.

The result also meant the players felt the wrath of Di Canio, who branded his side's performance 'unacceptable'.

It was a result no one would have predicted given the improvement shown in the wins over Newcastle and Everton as well as the defeat to Chelsea, and Johnson admits the players were also shell-shocked by their own peformances.

He said: "Monday was a difficult night for us. We didn't go into the game even imagining we were going to be beaten if I'm honest. Nobody expected us to lose the way we did because the way we have been playing, we should have gone to Villa and won.

"But this does happen in football. We got well beaten.

"The result was one thing, but it was the performance that was really disappointing. We lost three points, but if we had played well and lost, then you hold your hands up because it happens.

"But we didn't play well at all. It was a strange night. It seems every time Villa attacked they scored. It was a strange one to be involved in.

"We just didn't play well on the night. If you don't perform in a game when the other team performs and to a high standard, then it's always going to be difficult.

"I don't think it was down to preparation or anything like that. It's more about cleaning a few things up, such as making sure we don't make silly mistakes that did cost us."

To add further salt to their wounds, Monday's defeat also saw Stephane Sessegnon receive a straight red for a challenge on Yacoubo Sylla.

Sunderland officials lodged a formal appeal against the Benin international's dismissal on Tuesday, but yesterday it was confirmed that appeal had been rejected and Sessegnon's three-match ban will stand.

With Steven Fletcher already out the final three games, Johnson admits losing Sessegnon is a huge blow, but is confident the players available are capable of filling the void left by the playmaker.

"He's scored a couple of important goals for us of late and returned as the kind of player we always knew he was," said Johnson, who could be moved into a more central role to support Danny Graham in Sessegnon's absence.

"Sess missing is going to be a blow. Those decisions never get over-turned. I can't remember any red card being rescinded.

"It's disappointing because our squad is small anyway, so we need to get together as a team. The lads that are available need to get the results."

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