FIVE days later and the Black Cats' abject surrender at Norwich City still rankles with manager Steve Bruce.

Hopes were high at Carrow Road of the Black Cats building upon their resounding 4-0 thumping of Stoke City nine days earlier.

Those hopes were soon consigned to history as a frustrating start to the season continued. All the good work beforehand was undone as familiar bad habits returned to allow the Canaries to bag the three points despite a late, but forlorn, rally from Sunderland.

For Bruce it was a frustrating night given the amount of ball his men had during the game.

He said: “We had enough possession in the game, but we did not do anything with it.

“We were desperate to get a result after the great performance against Stoke, so to play so poorly just compounded what happened in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

“We had 62% of possession and made more than 500 passes, but we did not do anything with it.

“We were too slow and methodical and it became an awful performance. It has been a difficult week, but no more so than the result at Norwich believe it or not.