The Black Cats looked to be heading for their first win under Wilkinson before Phil Babb headed into his own net 10 minutes from time.

Yet Wilkinson was delighted with his side's display despite the late goal they conceded.

"I was very, very pleased with the performance," he said.

"I thought we deserved three points. We went out with a good attitude and we battled really well for 90 minutes.

Wilkinson took over as Sunderland boss at the start of the month and lost his only other game in charge 1-0 to West Ham.

"It took me until the West Ham game to really realise how deep the run had got into the players' bones and under their skins," he said.

"We'd either become immune to losing or got downright depressed by it.

"I've got to do a lot of learning and so have they. The jury is still out on me, I've told them the jury is still out on them.

"The response has been magnificent. They've had a lot of information put into them in the last couple of weeks.

"I thought tonight was a performance we can build on. Our organisation was better - we dealt with a lot of stuff and they kept their discipline."

He said Michael Gray's goal at the end of the first-half had been crucial.

"It's always difficult to go a goal down. Our problem is we give our defenders nothing to hold on to," Allardyce said.

"In the end you have to give Michael Gray some credit for the quality of the shot. It was a fantastic shot.

"From my point of view that was a goal we conceded which was not our fault.

"Overall we felt we pipped it but going a goal behind made it very difficult."