After such a poor run of performances at the back end of Lee Johnson's reign and the period before Sunderland appointed Alex Neil as his replacement, the Black Cats certainly produced a more encouraging display in this weekend's 2-1 defeat at home to Milton Keynes Dons.
The Dons have been excellent away from home all season and have lost just one of their last 12 League One outings.
However, Sunderland went toe to toe with them and would have been disappointed to concede a late Connor Wickham winner after Ross Stewart had levelled proceedings just before the hour mark.
One point from two games is not the ideal start in the dugout for Alex Neil, but Bailey Wright is one player seeing the positives from the new manager's first full week in charge.
Wright gave his insight on Neil's early impact at Sunderland and thoughts ahead the club's hosting of Burton Albion on Tuesday evening when he spoke to the Sunderland Echo.
He said: "He’s got his ideas and we’ve had a full week’s training which isn’t a lot really but I think we have come a long way in that week and really bought into what he wants.
"Things do change at a club but we’re footballers, we’ve been in this situation before and for us there were a lot of positives during the week.
"I think it has just made us more hungry to go out and play again Tuesday.
"With the game coming quickly on Tuesday it’s an opportunity to go and put things right and it will be tough but the belief is there that we can go and do a job and build from there."
Sunderland lost the reverse fixture with the Brewers 1-0 in mid August and will have the opportunity to put that right in midweek.
Burton were comfortably beaten to a 3-0 scoreline by Ipswich Town at the weekend, as the Suffolk club reduced the gap between them and the Black Cats to just four points.
The Verdict
It is panic stations a little bit from the supporters' point of view at Sunderland.
A five game winless run, including four defeats and an unconvincing draw at relegation threatened AFC Wimbledon, now has the Black Cats battling to climb back into the play-offs.
If the supporters were fearing a fifth straight season in the third tier towards the back end of Johnson's reign, they will be seeing it as more likely than not now, having been overtaken by MK Dons, Oxford United and Plymouth Argyle in recent weeks.
Sheffield Wednesday look set to leapfrog Sunderland at some stage also with Alex Neil's challenge now merely to secure a spot in the top six.
Burton are horrible to play against at the best of the times but Tuesday already seems to represent a must win game in just the third league outing of the Alex Neil era.