Sergeant Wilko's grafters stuck in the doldrums

Sunderland 0 West Ham 1

They found a 1,000lb bomb left behind by a German World War II bomber in Sunderland last week. It was defused at the scene and destroyed in a controlled explosion on Hendon beach. Meanwhile, the rocket Howard Wilkinson has placed under the players of Sunderland Football Club has yet to take explosive effect. After seven days of graft, graft and more graft, the underachievers who lost Peter Reid his job were still losers at the Stadium of Light yesterday.

Perhaps they were simply stunned by the shock of the twice-daily training sessions and the kind of running regime familiar to Khalid Khannouchi, the Sunderland-supporting marathon world record holder. Whatever the reason, save for a couple of spells after half-time, it was another dull, uninspiring performance by a Sunderland side. It was another defeat, too.

Trevor Sinclair's goal midway through the first-half left Sergeant Wilko and his men deeper in the Premiership mire, third from bottom, and lifted West Ham from the foot of the table.

It was Wilkinson's first match as a club manager for six years and he announced his return with a broad marker pen, drawing a line through half of the team that tamely surrendered to Arsenal in what proved to be Reid's last stand. There were six changes in all, only one of them enforced. Out went Flo, Arca, Bellion, Thirlwell and Williams as well as the injured Sorensen. In came Phillips, Stewart, Gray, Piper, Wright and Macho.

It made little difference – as Wilkinson could quickly see from the first-half vantage point he adopted, high up in the directors' box.

"I wouldn't be here if we didn't have problems," the new Sunderland manager said afterwards. "Peter Reid would still be here. Obviously we're not going to turn things around as quickly as everyone wants, and that includes me. The number of points tells you that. It's going to take time, but we've got enough games to get us out of this predicament and I think we've got the personnel to get us out of trouble."

For much of the first half yesterday Sunderland didn't have the personnel just to get out of their own half. It took them 17 minutes to launch an attack and, even then, Kevin Phillips was standing in an offside position when Kevin Kilbane broke on the left. All the while Steve Cotterill, Wilkinson's highly-qualified assistant, was standing at pitch-side, barking instructions and scribbling on a notepad. His entry for the 23rd minute would have made interesting reading.

The ball Paolo Di Canio launched from wide and deep on the left dropped neatly into the path of Sinclair on the opposite edge of the Sunderland penalty area but it caught Michael Gray napping at left-back. The Sunderland captain was left backpedalling in vain as Sinclair took the ball in his stride before thumping a right-foot drive past the helpless Jurgen Macho and in off the underside of the crossbar.

Having expended so much effort in attempting to get Sinclair to the Stadium of Light last season, Reid might just have seen the funny side. Up in the stand, Wilkinson was not laughing and there was precious little for the rest of the crowd to smile about as Sunderland struggled to gather any momentum, in midfield let alone up front. Only twice did they mildly trouble the Hammers defence before the break, Jody Craddock connecting with a couple of Claudio Reyna corners but without getting an effort within five yards of the goal. Still, it could have been worse for Wilkinson and Cotterill by the interval had Joe Cole made the most of two chances.

"The first-half was wasted," Wilkinson later lamented. "It was like an American soap opera, a break every two minutes but we were more urgent in the second-half. I was pleased with the way the players picked it up." The half-time talk, and the replacement of Matt Piper by David Bellion, did indeed draw Sunderland out of their shell. First Phillips forced a save from James, the West Ham keeper's first of the match (with 51 minutes on the clock). Then Bellion cut in from the right and unleashed a left-foot shot that James failed to hold and Phillips bundled into the net. The home joy was short-lived, though, Graham Barber signalling for offside.

Wilkinson's men rallied again late in the game, Niall Quinn rattling a post and Bellion clipping the crossbar with a drive. But the new manager was left doing his best to crack a smile as the boos greeted the final whistle. He might have also cracked open the Dom Perignon he was sent by Vinnie Jones last week – for Glenn Roeder to celebrate another match survived, if nothing else.

Sunderland 0 West Ham 1
Sinclair 23

Half-time: 0-1 Attendance: 44,352