It was a weekend to forget for Sunderland as their promotion hopes took a hit.

Sunday saw the Black Cats fall to a 1-0 defeat against Coventry City - a result which saw their five-match unbeaten run brought to an abrupt end.

As well as stopping Phil Parkinson's side from moving into the automatic promotion spots, it saw the Sky Blues extend their buffer on the play-off spots to five points with a game in hand.

That means that Sunderland's hopes of reaching the automatic promotion places has taken a real blow.

But what did we learn at St Andrews? Let's take a look.

Another slow start

It's a bad habit that needs to be knocked on the head.

For the second match in a row, Sunderland set themselves up for a difficult 90 minutes by conceding in the opening minutes of the game.

The Black Cats did manage to pull themselves around fairly quickly, but of course, the damage was already done.

Pushing for promotion is difficult enough without putting yourself at an immediate disadvantage and so this is something that needs to be ironed out and quickly.

A pivotal disallowed goal

It was a moment that looked like being Sunderland's saving grace, but alas, it wasn't to be.

Max Power looked like he was to be the hero once again when his effort found the back of the Coventry City net in the closing stages, but it was ruled out for an offside on Luke O'Nien.

Replays showed that the decision was correct, meaning that after the late heroics of the Fleetwood Town clash Sunderland's luck has certainly run out.

Do you know where these 15 Sunderland players were signed from? Have a go!

 

Time for change?

It's been a difficult week for Sunderland, but now could be time to freshen things up.

Phil Parkinson brought in several good players in the January transfer window but so far they've been unable to break into his starting XI.

Fatigue is certainly starting to creep in for Parkinson's first choice 11, meaning that perhaps some fresh faces in the team could galvanise things moving forward.