HAVING watched his side suffer their heaviest defeat of the season at Rotherham at the weekend, Lee Johnson described Sunderland’s performance at the New York Stadium as a “line in the sand”. Presumably, however, the tide was in so no one could see where it was drawn.

Last night’s horror show at Hillsborough did not result in as heavy a defeat as Saturday’s, but make no mistake about it, the performance was every bit as poor. Lining up against a Sheffield Wednesday side that had gone four games without a victory, the Black Cats effectively handed their opponents three points on a plate as their defence repeatedly malfunctioned.

Theo Corbeanu was left completely unmarked as he opened the scoring, Florian Kamberi had two bites of the cherry as he doubled Wednesday’s lead shortly before half-time and Lee Gregory reacted quicker than the entire Sunderland defence as he claimed a third goal at the start of the second half.

The result was a third defeat in the last five league matches, an extremely worrying slump that has dented much of the optimism that had built in the opening two months of the season. Johnson and Kristjaan Speakman might claim to be ‘doing things differently’, but the current campaign is beginning to feel depressingly familiar. Four years into their stay in League One, and Sunderland have been here before.

Having been ripped apart defensively at Rotherham, the key for Sunderland last night was to secure a solid start on their return to South Yorkshire. Instead, their defensive frailties were exposed once again as they fell behind early on.

It was a desperately poor goal to give away, with both of Sunderland’s centre-halves being caught ball-watching as a long pass found its way to Kamberi, forcing Carl Winchester to tuck inside.

With Winchester out of position, and Lynden Gooch seemingly unaware of the danger that was building down his side of the field, Wednesday wing-back Corbeanu was afforded far too much space as he received Kamberi’s square pass on the corner of the area. The Canadian, who is on loan from Wolves, steadied himself before stroking a neat finish past Thorben Hoffman’s left hand.

The Black Cats needed a response, but worryingly, it never looked like arriving. The visitors’ attacking play was clunky and laboured for most of the night, with the central-midfield trio of Dan Neil, Luke O’Nien and Corry Evans failing to offer sufficient support to Ross Stewart. As a result, Sunderland’s central striker either found himself isolated and easy to mark or having to drop deep to secure possession, thus neutralising his goalscoring threat.

The delivery from the flanks was poor, especially when Gooch found himself with the ball at his feet, so it was a Sheffield Wednesday side that started the game with their manager, Darren Moore, supposedly under pressure, that continued to offer the greater threat.

Sunderland finally stirred when Aiden O’Brien’s shot from the edge of the area was blocked by a sliding Chey Dunkley, and Neil had the ball in the net shortly after the half-hour mark, only for his effort to be chalked off because he received possession after Stewart’s shot cannoned off an offside Gooch.

At least the visitors were starting to show signs of life, but their attempts at fashioning a recovery were undone when they conceded a second soft goal six minutes before the interval.

Once again, Corbeanu was granted the freedom of the left-hand side as he delivered a ball into the area, and while Kamberi’s initial attempt at securing possession was not too successful, he was still able to pounce on the loose ball and sweep home a close-range finish. There were a host of Sunderland defenders in and around the six-yard box, yet none of them were able to muster anything approximating a challenge.

A side that had looked strong and resolute for much of the opening two months of the season has suddenly developed an alarmingly soft underbelly. Perhaps, given the Black Cats’ success in cup matches this season, it is time to consider a more permanent return for Bailey Wright and Denver Hume.

At the other end, it was telling that Sunderland’s only threat came when Stewart dropped into a midfield position in order to receive possession and run at the Wednesday defence. It was to the Scotsman’s credit that he was prepared to put in the hard yards; it was a black mark against all of his fellow attackers that he had to.

O’Brien had a shot blocked after Stewart took it upon himself to cross from the right, but a task that looked extremely difficult at the interval became all-but-impossible when the Black Cats conceded a third goal nine minutes into the second half.

There was an element of fortune to the way in which Calum Paterson’s miscued shot skewed across Sunderland’s goal, but while the visitors’ defenders watched on, Gregory reacted quickest to bundle home. Again, a lack of defensive numbers was not the Black Cats’ problem – it was simply that the whole of the back four switched off simultaneously.