AFTER suffering a first defeat of the season that doubled up as the worst of Jack Ross’ tenure, Sunderland captain Grant Leadbitter has described how the squad want to use the feeling of dissatisfaction to spur them on in the race for promotion.

The Black Cats’ 3-0 defeat at Peterborough United ended a winning run of five matches and the manner in which the defeat materialised raised concern among the huge contingent of away fans at London Road.

When Marcus Maddison added Posh’s third of the afternoon – to go with his first half free-kick and Josh Knight’s second half drive – just after the hour, Sunderland went on to finish with nine men because of red cards for Luke O’Nien and Charlie Wyke.

Sunderland will appeal O’Nien’s dismissal having examined replays of the incident when he got tangled up with Peterborough’s Ivan Toney near the far touchline when the striker hit the deck. Referee Craig Hicks deemed it to be violent conduct and he now faces a three-match ban.

While that could change if the appeal is successful, there is nothing that can be done about the horrible scoreline. Given Sunderland were already effectively beaten before the sending-offs, Leadbitter wants to move on and ensure there is no lingering effects from such a disappointing afternoon.

“If there’s one good thing to have come from Saturday, it’s that we stuck together after those red cards,” said Leadbitter. “It has to be like that. It’s tough when you’re down to nine men and I was pretty pleased we didn’t concede. But let’s be honest, that’s a small thing. The result is a big thing and we’re disappointed to come away with nothing.

“There’s plenty players at the football club and they’re all good players. The players who have been playing have been in good form. Let’s not get bogged down by one defeat.

“We’ll take that punch, no problem. We move on. We’ll take our medicine, as they say in football, but it’s disappointing. We are disappointed in one or two of their players the way they went down, but that’s football.”

Leadbitter was clearly referring to the incident with Toney, although there could be few arguments about the way Wyke lunged into Dan Butler to pick up his second caution with 13 minutes remaining.

The Sunderland skipper said: "It's not really for me to comment about the red cards, but the lad has told me he's clipped him in the face. I've obviously seen it back and I don't think he's gone anywhere near him and he's gone down. Sometimes footballers do that."

Sunderland now have a two week break to recover and regroup before heading to Accrington and knowing that losing to Peterborough was only the first defeat of the season is something Leadbitter is encouraged by.

"That happens in football,” he said. “Like I said, we take our medicine and we move on. First half, I thought we were OK and we were probably the better side to be honest. We concede from a free-kick and then in the second half we concede an early goal. I think maybe our discipline has to be better at times.

"It's Sunderland Football Club. We don't want to lose football games. It's as simple as that. Sunderland Football Club, we hate losing games. We expect to win every game and the pressure is on Sunderland every game in this division. But like Saturday, sometimes in football you have to take your medicine. You swallow it and move on.”

Avoiding defeat in every game is a big ask at any level of football and Sunderland know that, but Leadbitter does not want the feeling of defeat to be felt on many occasions this season after losing for the first time in this campaign .

“It hurts losing football matches, but we have to make sure it doesn't become very often,” he said. “If we lose six or seven all season, no problem. It happens. We know where we are and we've had a decent start to the season.  “I think players are getting fitter and stronger all the time and in the second half, the lads were working hard for each other with nine men. At 3-0 down it can be easy to give in, but I think the lads stuck together even those our chances of getting back in the game were slim. Like I say, maybe sometimes our discipline needs to be better.

"It’s six games? If you're talking 16 games, that's what I want to be doing. I want to go 15, 16 games unbeaten - not six. But you swallow your defeats as good as your wins and move onto the next one.”

Sunderland’s search for a new left-back is ongoing. Ross suggested at Peterborough on Saturday that he expects a new signing before close of play on Monday.

The deadline for League One clubs is 5pm and Sunderland have been working on a few different left-back options and have so far struggled to get one over the line.

Kilmarnock’s Greg Taylor is high in their sights but an offer of around £750,000 has been rejected north of the border. There could be a late, increased bid but Sunderland have targeted alternatives.

Sheffield Wednesday are holding out for more than £1m for Morgan Fox, while Swansea’s 24-year-old Declan John is a more realistic option as things stand.

John has fallen out of favour this season at the Liberty Stadium and the Swans are open to the idea of letting him go, even if it is on loan before the window closes.  Ross has been aware of the need to sign competition for Denver Hume, whose injury problems continued again when he was ruled out of the trip to London Road with an ankle injury. Conor McLaughlin, who is right footed and prefers to play centrally, was again asked to deputise.  Ross said: “We hope to have one in Monday. We’re hopeful to conclude that early on Monday.”

There is unlikely to be any more new arrivals before 5pm. Ross is keen to recover from Saturday's defeat.

“It is a sore one for us,” he said. “There are days when you need to take your medicine and deal with it.  "We are disappointed. It is sore but it is a long season and we have opportunities to put a run together and forget about this.

“It is strange standing here because people will have a perception of how the game went after that scoreline.  "We did well first half against a good team away from home, I thought we looked solid defensively and a threat going forward.  “The free-kick (from Marcus Maddison) aside we would have been relatively happy at half-time.  "We still believed we would win the game after that as well. We were on the ascendancy and after that things happened in the game that made it nigh on impossible to win the game."