But optimists were thin on the ground at the Stadium of Light on Saturday after a frustrating draw saw the Wearsiders end the weekend no further from the relegation zone than they'd started it.

Booed from the pitch at half-time, Sunderland's players received only grudging appreciation as they left the field at the final whistle – supporters recognising their side's improvement but more aware than ever that the abyss lies just a step behind them.

Two home games against bottom half opposition have yielded just two points for Sunderland. Not good enough.

And for Sunderland fans who have spent so much of their Premier league lives clutching at straws as games and hope ran out, it's never too early to fret.

Steve Bruce suggested afterwards that the Stadium of Light can be a tough crowd to please because of the standards they demand.

But to be fair to the fans, not only had they just witnessed two of the dourest, drabbest games of the season in the space of five days, but the last time they saw their team win a league match, it was autumn.

What Sunderland needed on Saturday was the brightest of starts, but they were unable to build any momentum despite a lively early showing from new signing, right-back Alan Hutton.

Wigan skipper Titus Bramble was to have a good game, as did fellow ex-Magpie Charles N'Zogbia.

But the Latics player who will remember this game long after his team-mates have forgotten it was Mohamed Diame, who scored his first Premier League goal with a spectacular 20th minute strike which manager Roberto Martinez, quite rightly insisted, would not have been bettered anywhere in the top flight that day.

An already unhappy home crowd were angered by the goal and their mood didn't improve as Sunderland failed to raise their game.

Steve Bruce had been taunted mercilessly by Wigan fans after their side's opening goal and the manager would not have blamed home supporters for booing him and his team off at the break.

It might have been time for harsh words in the dressing room and certainly there was a marked improvement after the break, rewarded when Sunderland levelled in the 64th minute.

The architect of the goal was 19-year-old Jordan Henderson, a link-up with Hutton this time providing the opening for the teenager and Kenwyne Jones rising high just outside the six-yard box to head down and across the exposed Chris Kirkland.

The goal lifted the crowd, but hopes of a stirring victory for Sunderland evaporated in the 68th minute when Henderson was badly hurt as he tried to prevent a clearance in the Wigan area and had his ankle stamped on.

Henderson was in real distress as he was stretchered off the pitch and Sunderland lost their momentum as the left-footed Bolo Zenden was asked to do a job on the right flank.

Both teams were positive in the dying stages, Wigan throwing on new signings, strikers Marcelo Moreno and Victor Moses; Sunderland bringing on new striker Benjani for Andy Reid as the home team went for a three-man strike force.

But the only clear-cut chance came in the 90th minute after a goalmouth scramble when the ball dropped to Bent 15 yards out and his goalbound shot struck Jones and bounced away.

For Bruce, who has looked desperately for any kind of luck in recent games, it was the ultimate moment of frustration.

Optimists, pessimists, it's hard to know which way to turn at the moment. The darkness before the dawn? Or the long road to oblivion?
Those are questions that owner Ellis Short, present at the weekend, must long to have answered.