Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill has insisted that there were positives to draw from his side's 3-1 reverse to Manchester United.
The Black Cats boss said that his side played good football in the second half and identified several of his players for praise.
"It was a difficult first half because I felt we gifted them their goals. The last thing you want to do is give them confidence, but we kept going in the second half," BBC Sport quotes him as saying.
"We can take a lot of heart and a lot of encouragement from our second-half performance."
O'Neill sang the praises of Connor Wickham and Steven Fletcher after the game, describing the latter as "magnificent".
He added: "Connor did very very well indeed when he came on. Naturally Steven Fletcher has been magnificent for us and has been our main goalscorer. To lose him half time was a blow.
"I really don't know how long he will be out for. The injury is not the same he had a couple of weeks ago. He hurt his back in the warm-up but soldiered on. Manchester United are not top of the league for nothing.
"They are what they are, but we should take a lot of positives from the second half."
The result leaves Sunderland in 16th place in the Premier League table, one point above the relegation zone.
Mark Langshaw
