SUNDERLAND interim manager Mike Dodds felt his side were better than Saints for "large spells of the game," despite falling to a 4-2 defeat on Saturday.

Southampton managed 61 per cent possession and 10 shots on target - double the amount the Black Cats registered at St Mary's.

Sunderland did wrestle themselves back into the game after the break before falling behind again through Joe Rothwell's double salvo.

The defeat extended Sunderland's losing streak to six games, leaving them nine points above the drop zone, having played one game more than Huddersfield.

“When you play against a team with the quality that Southampton have, you can’t afford to have players not committing to the press," Dodds reflected.

“My biggest disappointment in the first half was our quality with the ball. We didn’t have enough quality to retain the ball or do the things we spoke about.

“I felt we gave them the ball back too early. I felt we had more energy in the second half and quality, which gave us more of a foothold in the game.

"We have played three teams this week who have got significantly better infrastructure than us."

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He continued: “I’m not going to say I think we deserved to win the game, because you don’t deserve to win the game if you concede four goals, but I feel like we were better than Southampton for large spells of the game.

“There is some encouragement there but I appreciate that we have lost six on the bounce and four since I have taken over.

“Both of Southampton’s goals in the first half have come from set-pieces. They didn’t score from beating our press or how we set up.

“Their last two goals are probably a byproduct of us being committed to what we are trying to do. On the flip side of that, we have scored two really good goals.”