Sunderland 'not out of the play-offs picture,' says defender

Dan Ballard insists Sunderland are not out of the play-offs picture despite an absolutely disastrous week for the Black Cats.

Defeats at Huddersfield and Birmingham have left Sunderland back in tenth place, four points adrift of sixth place and facing a really tough run of games in March.

Few are not expecting any kind of credible play-offs challenge, especially given Sunderland’s total inability to produce a good performance under head coach Michael Beale.

Five games to save his job? Michael Beale facing critical period at Sunderland

Ballard, though, has urged supporters not to abandon all hope just yet.

“It’s a really disappointing week but we’re not out of the [play-offs] picture,” Ballard said.

“We’ve played really good stuff in short spells, we’re just struggling to put it all together for 90 minutes.

“We need to go again if we want to end up in the play-offs because these games are important to win.

“We’re all really disappointed not today but it’s an important week leading up to the next game. It’s important we go on a little run now and start picking up some points.”

The defeat at Birmingham will be an especially difficult one to digest because it involved throwing away a really good position.

A 1-0 half-time lead was rendered utterly irrelevant by a worryingly abject second-half showing in which Sunderland struggled to even put two passes together.

“It’s a really tough one to take,” Ballard admitted. “I thought we had a really positive first half and we were really good.

“We knew they’d change things at half time, we discussed that in the dressing room and that’s what they did. They pressed a lot higher up the pitch and I think as a team we struggled to adapt ourselves.

“We struggled going a bit longer to try and stretch them and it was a disappointing second half.”

Five games to save his job? Michael Beale facing critical period at Sunderland

READ MORE SUNDERLAND NEWS