AT first, it was an annoyance. Then, it became a source of concern. Now, after a first defeat of the season, Sunderland’s fondness for conceding the opening goal of a game is a trait that is threatening to derail their promotion push.

Sunderland have played eight League One matches this season, and six have seen their opponents open the scoring. Prior to Saturday, they had managed to recover to claim at least a point on five separate occasions, but with Burton scoring twice before Chris Maguire pulled a goal back at the start of the second half, there was to be no successful fightback at the Pirelli Stadium.

Jack Ross admits he is struggling to find a solution to his side’s woes, which have tended to come in the early stages of a game. On the opening weekend, Charlton scored after ten minutes. At Gillingham, Sunderland were behind just three minutes in, and a few days later, AFC Wimbledon were ahead before the clock reached the ten-minute mark.

Oxford’s opener came after 16 minutes, Fleetwood’s after nine, and Burton broke the deadlock at the weekend before the opening 20 minutes was up.

Clearly there is an issue with getting out of the traps, and Ross admits there have been times when his players have been bullied in the early stages of a game.

That doesn’t necessarily mean they have been knocked around by their opponents, although that was certainly the case in the first half at Wimbledon, it is more that Sunderland’s players fail to take the initiative in the early phases of play.

Rather than getting on the front foot from the off, Sunderland’s approach in the first quarter of a game tends to be more passive. It is almost as if Ross’ side are waiting for their opponents to seize the initiative so they can begin to mount a series of counter-attacks, and while that approach worked at Gillingham, where the Black Cats tore their opponents to shreds as they broke to devastating effect, it is a dangerous tactic to adopt amid the hurly-burly of life in League One.

When teams get the upper hand in the third tier, it can be hard to peg them back, and while Sunderland have proved adept at countering off the back foot so far this season, they will have to learn how to control games against teams who want to force them back if they are to remain a prominent part of the promotion mix. Ultimately, counter-punching will only get them so far.

Scunthorpe sat off at the Stadium of Light and were punished. Increasingly, though, it looks as though Sunderland’s League One rivals have decided that attack is the best form of defence, especially in the early stages when the Black Cats are clearly most vulnerable.

“It’s a learning curve, and we’ve got to realise we can’t keep gifting teams a goal start,” said Maguire. “We’ve been lucky to come back from one (goal behind), but Saturday was the first we’ve gone two behind. I think when we got one back a lot of people were thinking we were going to nick a draw, but it wasn’t to be.

“We’ve got to work on that on the training pitch, we’ve spoken about it before. We can’t keep gifting teams the goal start. We have to cut that out and hopefully it’s us that take the lead next time.

What can Sunderland do better in the early stages of a game? Retaining possession is clearly important, but there is an argument that the Black Cats need to be ten yards further upfield in the early passages of play.

Away from home, they often find themselves defending too close to their own 18-yard box if their opponents adopt an aggressive approach from the off, and that tends to invite trouble. Sunderland’s record at dealing with crosses hasn’t been great this season, so if at all possible, they need to limit the number of balls they are being asked to deal with until they have settled into a defensive shape.

A five-man defence might help, although it would also limit Sunderland’s attacking threat. Perhaps a better solution would be another defensive player alongside Lee Cattermole, with Luke O’Nien or Tom Flanagan potential options if the Black Cats were to look to tighten up in front of their back four.

“We’ve spoken about it, but we’ll keep what was said in house and work on it on the training pitch,” added Maguire. “As a squad, we’ll come together and try to work on it to try to solve the problem.”