THE Sunderland players received such a warm ovation from their supporters at the final whistle on Saturday you’d have thought they’d beaten Manchester United rather than extended their losing streak to four matches.

The Stadium of Light crowd were impressed by their side’s spirited recovery after Paul Scholes snatched an early lead for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, who edged a step closer towards a second successive Premier League title.

But if all of Ricky Sbragia’s side had matched the commitment shown by captain for the day Phil Bardsley, they could have been celebrating their first League victory over Ferguson’s side for 13 years.

The Black Cats will be buoyed by a performance that improved significantly on recent showings and a similar effort against Hull City on Saturday should yield three points.

But with Sunderland’s top flight future far from certain, Sbragia was left praying for a change in luck after injuries and a deflected goal conspired to drag his side closer towards North-East rivals Newcastle and Middlesbrough.

“It was 2-1, which was unfair, but sometimes nothing in life seems fair,” noted Sbragia.

“We thought we deserved something but at the end of the day we lost. Talk about luck.

“We lost Kieran Richardson on Friday with a slight calf injury but we hope he will be available against Hull. Little things like that went against us in training.”

The luck was clearly with the visitors when Federico Macheda repeated his match winning cameo of a week earlier to poke home Michael Carrick’s wayward shot and deny Sunderland the point they probably deserved.

When Carlos Edwards’ first half effort was deflected by Nemanja Vidic on to the visitors’ upright it summed up the contrasting fortunes of thetwo sides.

But in a tightly-contested affair, the quality of substitutes became key.

With the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and eventual scorer Macheda on the visitors’ bench, Ferguson possessed game-changing talent that few sides in the world can match.

In contrast, Sunderland’s substitutes had scored only one League goal between them all season and the introduction of Darryl Murphy, Dwight Yorke and Paul Mc- Shane never looked like adding to Kenwyne Jones’ second- half equaliser.

The decision to introduce Yorke for the final ten minutes, when the more creative Steed Malbranque was available, showed Sbragia’s resolve to protect Sunderland’s goal difference was greater than his desire to push for a late equaliser. The manager’s pragmatism was understandable but with a below-par United perhaps preoccupied by Wednesday’s clash with Porto, Sunderland spurned a great chance to take something from the game.

Ferguson’s side rarely slipped into top gear but their diligence and will-to-win proved sufficient to secure a third successive victory on Wearside.

“From the first minute to the 90th they tend to keep the same thought in their mind, They play it well and don’t have a fear,” noted Sbragia.

“The position we are in is a bit different. We knew they would have a lot of the ball but you hope you might get a bit of luck.

“But they keep doing the same things, the right things throughout the game and believe that eventually they will wear you down and get the goal. That’s down to mental toughness as well.”

Sunderland have only three more chances this season to add to their five Premier League home victories, with Hull providing the best opportunity.

Sbragia added: “We’ve got to get something from the Hull game. The next six games are going to be really big but we’ve got to really focus on the Hull game.

“The crowd were excellent against Man United and we will need them when we play Hull. When we are committed they really respond. We made some good tackles and some good decisions and that’s what the crowd want.”

The late withdrawal of Richardson saw Bardsley stand in as team captain and the former Old Trafford trainee proved an inspirational presence.

Teemu Tainio and Grant Leadbitter showed impressive industry in midfield to prevent Scholes and Carrick from linking with the strikers.

And it was the Finn’s marauding run that set up Jones’ first goal in seven games.

Sbragia said: “The front two set the ball rolling with their work rate but unfortunately we didn’t get anything for it.”

Points rather than pride must be taken from Hull or Sunderland risk being overhauled by their local rivals.