BRUCE BATTLERS RUIN COLEMAN’S DEBUT DAY

CHrIS COleMan did not go into the Sunderland job blind but his eyes will have been opened by this defeat in his first game in charge.

Sunderland were better than recent standards, but they still lost to an aston Villa team that in periods had the home crowd on their backs.

It was a workmanlike win for Steve Bruce’s side, who move up to fourth.

Bruce knows all about taking over a large club that is underperforming and turning it round. But it has taken him time and Villa are still not the finished product. The trouble for Coleman is that time is in short supply.

He needs to get this team — without a win since august — to start performing otherwise relegation will be the outcome.

Shorn of ten or so first-team players through injury, Sunderland’s prospects seemed bleak from the 10th minute when robert Snodgrass finished a slick counter by picking out albert adomah who tapped in. Josh Onomah, the 20-year- old on loan from Tottenham, added a second after the break from 20 yards out.

Sunderland sensed a comeback with 18 minutes left when lewis Grabban scored by hooking in with his back to goal. But it ended as a ninth defeat of the season and Coleman has work to do.

He said: ‘By hook or by crook we must get a result. Then you start marching forward. we had a go 2-0 down, the players could have melted, but they never did. These are the moments are where you build team spirit.’

Bruce meanwhile, revealed Jonathan Kodjia is likely to need an operation on his injured ankle and will be out for months. ‘It’s devastating,’ he said.