No smiles for free-falling Sunderland

FOR Roy Keane the last straw was when Niall Quinn asked him to put a smile on the faces of his Sunderland players.

After this latest inept display, which keeps them well and truly embroiled in the relegation battle, they would no doubt require a plastic surgeon to achieve that feat, such was the collective gloom as they were accompanied off by a cacophony of abuse from their own supporters.

Amazingly, they remain the highest-placed of the Premier League’s north-east clubs, that three-headed hydra of footballing ineptitude, but a cursory glance at the table – Sunderland are four points clear of trouble in 16th with three games left – reveals that is akin to winning a popularity contest between bankers, estate agents and journalists.