AS far as opening days go, it wasn’t exactly ideal. But as Sunderland’s players lick their wounds in the wake of Saturday’s dispiriting home defeat to Coventry City, Luke O’Nien remains confident Michael Beale’s Wearside reign can be a major success.

Beale’s first game as Black Cats boss hardly went to plan as Coventry claimed a 3-0 victory at the Stadium of Light, with the discontent in the stands mounting as the home side fell to pieces in the second half.

It was a rude awakening for the new head coach, who was starting on the back foot anyway after replacing the popular Tony Mowbray, but in his defence, he had only had a couple of training sessions in which to start getting his ideas across to his squad.

With the Boxing Day trip to Hull City sparking a run of three matches in the space of seven days, training time will remain at a premium. However, O’Nien has already seen enough to convince him that he and his team-mates are in good hands.

“Not that much has changed,” said the Sunderland defender. “We’re not far off a very, very good team, and he’s (Beale) given us some really, really good information.

“We’ve only had three or four days together, and it’s important that we learn fast. I think, with the information and way he’s set us up, we are going to have a very successful season.”

READ MORE:

Sunderland started reasonably brightly at the weekend, with Abdoullah Ba spurning a golden opportunity to claim the lead when he skied a first-half shot over the crossbar.

However, they were pegged back when Tatsuhiro Sakamoto opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time, and unravelled entirely in the second half as Callum O’Hare and Kasey Palmer extended Coventry’s lead.

O’Nien was at fault for the first goal, tangling with Haji Wright to allow O’Hare to advance down the left and cross to the back post, and the 29-year-old readily accepts a marked collective improvement is required at the MKM Stadium tomorrow.

“The emotions are pretty raw right now – and it’s there for me as well,” admitted O’Nien. “We didn’t put in a performance that was pleasing. As professionals, we want to win every single game, and I think there’s a way to lose, and I don’t think we did that in the best possible way.

“There were still very good parts in there, but we just have to tighten up in a few areas. If we do that, we are not far from a very good team.

“These are the days you learn the most about the team, and are going to be the biggest lessons for us. Like always, nothing changes. We do a debrief and prepare for the next game. We are not far off a good team at all – we are three points off the play-offs, have performed well in the last few weeks, and just haven’t quite got the results.”

The next opportunity to put things right comes straight away, with Sunderland heading to Humberside for a Boxing Day game against a Hull side that also suffered a weekend disappointment, losing 3-2 at Bristol City on Friday night.

An away game on Boxing Day means Sunderland’s players will have to spend part of their Christmas Day travelling, but O’Nien insists that is sacrifice they are more than prepared to pay.

“I love the Boxing Day game,” he said. “Travelling is part and parcel of it. I know there are many Sunderland fans who would love to be in the situation we’re in. There will be many of us getting on that bus with a smile because we are playing for many people, not just ourselves.

“I’m looking forward to Boxing Day, it’s a quick turnaround, which suits us nicely. Nothing needs to change drastically, we just need to tighten up in a few areas. We’ll do our homework on Hull, watch a bit of our game back, and move forward as a team like we always do.”