Sam Allardyce demands Sunderland improvement

Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce has admitted that Sunday's 3-0 derby-day demolition of Newcastle United papered over the cracks as the new manager eyes a big improvement.

Fabricio Coloccini's red card saw Adam Johnson's penalty give the Black Cats a flattering 1-0 half-time lead, with United dominating the opening 45 minutes at the Stadium of Light.

Further goals from Billy Jones and Steven Fletcher, after Aleksandar Mitrovic missed a good chance, helped Sunderland seal a first Premier League win and move off the bottom of the table.

"With the odds of winning six on the trot you tend to think that somewhere along the line you're not going to do that," he told reporters.

"We've got a lot of work to do - we've got to get a lot better than we were today.

"Well done to the lads and we got the victory but we've got to play a lot better than our performance today if we're going to get out of trouble and into the mid-table. I'm going to be pushing the lads to improve."

Allardyce's men now sit 18th in the standings.