HIS side might have suffered their fifth defeat in a row – but Mike Dodds claims he still got glimpses of the ‘real Sunderland’ during tonight’s 1-0 loss to Leicester City.

The Black Cats crashed to a fifth straight reverse as Jamie Vardy’s first-half header enabled the Championship leaders to claim all three points at the Stadium of Light.

However, having looked like they were going to crash to a heavy defeat when Leicester carved out a succession of chances in the opening 20 minutes, Sunderland’s players successfully regrouped to produce a much-improved performance in the final hour of the game.

The visitors failed to create a single opportunity of note in the second half, with Sunderland twice going close through long-range strikes from Trai Hume and also having a strong penalty claim waved away in stoppage time when Dan Ballard went down under a challenge from Hamza Choudhury.

“I'm really conscious around how I answer the question because that's five defeats on the bounce now and we have to buck that trend as quickly as possible,” said Dodds, when asked to give his verdict on the game. “But I do feel that second half, in particular, is a snapshot of the blueprint of how we all want to play.

“The frustrating bit is the first 15 minutes and listen, I have to give Leicester credit because I thought they moved the ball so quickly. I actually liked how we pressed at times, but they just moved it so well.

“Once the game settled down, I felt we started to get a level of control, and in the second half I thought we were sensational. I don't want to be the guy throwing stats at people because I know it can be irritating and that they can be manipulated, but one of the guys there has just said their (Leicester’s) xG in the second half was 0.01 - I don't think there'd be many games where the opposition gets so nullified, never mind the best team in the league.

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“There's loads of positives, the group are in a good spot but we're also really aware that we have to buck this trend. I do feel that one win is just going into two, three, four. I'm very aware and conscious that we have lost three games since I took charge, but I also feel we've got better and better, so I'm going to take those positives.”

Sunderland also suffered a 1-0 defeat to Leicester at the King Power Stadium in October, but while there were similarities between the two matches, with the Foxes scoring early and holding on to win, Dodds felt the Black Cats were much better tonight than in the away game.

“I think we were better than when we played them earlier in the season,” he said. “I just couldn't see them scoring or getting out in the second half. I thought we looked more of a threat even though we have got to do more.

“You've got two scholars on the pitch who should be playing youth-team football (Chris Rigg and Jobe Bellingham), an average age of 21.6, so to go toe-to-toe with a Premier League side in waiting should be a huge encouragement for everyone.”