Chris Coleman refuses to believe his Sunderland side are relegated, but admits the size of the task in hand is huge.

They gave themselves real hope with a resounding 4-1 win at Derby County, but couldn't follow that up with a win on Easter Monday, going down 3-1 to Sheffield Wednesday.

Despite that result, Coleman believes he has seen enough to suggest his side might cling on to Championship football.

“If we hadn’t done in the last two games what we’ve done performance-wise I’d say no, it’s done,” he told the Chronicle Live. “We can go to Leeds and win. It won’t be easy but we can go anywhere in this division and win. It happens all the time."

Despite the defeat against Jos Luhukay's Owls, Coleman believes his side have turned a corner with the weekend's fixtures.

“It was just the run we were on, we weren’t really performing. But the last two performances were more like it. If we do that in the next six games we can win three, that’s for sure. It’s a big job for us but we have to see Leeds United as the last game of the season for us.”

Sunderland are currently five points adrift of safety, whilst fourth from bottom Birmingham also have a game in hand. To make matters worse, their last two matches of the season are against third-placed Fulham and table topping Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Verdict

Whilst the Derby win gave them hope, they really needed to back that up with three points against Sheffield Wednesday. If they had, maybe there would be a way forward for them, a route out of the bottom three. As it stands, everyone above them has a game in hand, right up to Nottingham Forest who are 15 points ahead. They're making a go of it, but it's far too late.