This is how it played out as Sunderland fall to dismal defeat on Alex Neil's Stadium of Light return

Sunderland’s poor end to the January transfer window was ruthlessly exposed by Neil’s side, who exposed a lack of potency in the final third and completely overran their inexperienced opposition on the counter attack.

The visitors had taken a narrow lead into the break through Josh Laurent’s controversial opener, but the second half proved to be an almost total mismatch as the visitors poured forward over and over again, with former Newcastle United striker Dwight Gayle scoring a brace to add insult to injury for the 43,000 crowd.

With a challenging run of fixtures ahead and no obvious solution to the striker shortage forthcoming, Sunderland’s top-six hopes are if not handing by a thread then on their way to being extinguished.

After a bright start from Sunderland it was the visitors who were beginning to see more of the ball, Smallbone sliding an effort wide before Patterson did well to cut out a low cross.

Mowbray’s side began to find their feet and some space in which to play, with Amad seeing an effort from the edge of the area blocked. They then produced a lovely, sweeping move from the middle of the pitch which allowed Clarke to take on and beat his marker, cutting a low cross from the byline into the six-yard box on his weaker left foot. Gelhardt did well to pull into space and meet it, but his effort was blocked and then Dan Neil volleyed over then the loose ball

The game then started to fall into a more predictable pattern, with the Black Cats dominating the ball but well away from the Stoke City goal. Neil’s side looked comfortable sitting off and picking their moments to press, breaking in numbers when they won it back. With regular gouls making the game increasingly stop-start, the hosts weren’t really gfetting anywhere.

Sunderland survived a number of dangerous low crosses into their box before the game swung five minutes before the break.

It started with a Sunderland corner, cleared from the box but floated back in by Alese. Batth got there first, cleaned out by Sarkic who came to claim but got nowhere near. Ballard headed the loose ball towards goal but Jagielka sensed the danger and cleared on the line, at which point the referee stopped play for a Stoke head injury. The defender returned to the play after treatment and immediately launched a sweeping counter attack, finished superbly by Laurent into the roof of the net after Smallbone’s cutback.

Sunderland additionally argued that Patterson’s view had been impeded by an offside player, but the goal stood amid rising frustration in the Stadium of Light.

Mowbray was booked for walking to remonstrate with the referee in farcical scenes at the whistle, with Sunderland struggling to create any chances of note.

The Black Cats head coach made a double substitution at the break to try and turn things round but within ten minutes the game was all but up. Stoke’s second came from Sunderland’s own free kick, cleared to the halfway line where Gayle caught Neil in possession. He played in Smallbone and the midfielder picked his pass to the back post perfectly, leaving Campbell with the easiest of finishes. He had another within minutes, Sunderland again caught in possession and though the forward’s first effort had been blocked, the second was curled perfectly into the far corner.

They were goals that had been coming all game, Sunderland’s lack of movement and variety in the final third giving Stoke so many chances to steal the ball near the halfway line.

Sunderland did briefly give their supporters some hope when Pritchard finished an excellent cross from Patrick Roberts at close range, but it was almost immediately extinguished when Gayle converted from a close range after Patterson initially saved a Jagielka header at a corner.

It had been a dismal second-half explosion and it wasn’t over – the fifth a goal of embarrassing ease as Gayle beat Patterson to a free kick floated into the box and nodded into the far corner.

The final exchanges were played out at an almost non-existent tempo, though Gayle was denied a hat-trick only by a good Patterson save.

Sunderland XI: Patterson; Hume, Ballard, Batth, Alese (O’Nien, 45); Neil, Pritchard; Roberts, Amad, Clarke; Gelhardt (Michut, 45)

Subs: Bass, Ba, Bennette, Lihadji, Ekwah

Stoke City XI: Sarkic (Bonham, 45); Hoever, Wilmot (Fox, 25), Jagielka, Sterling; Smallbone, Pearson (Thompson, 65), Laurent (Tymon, 82); Campbell (Baker, 80), Brown, Gayle

Subs: Baker, Tymon, Taylor, Lowe

Bookings: Neil, 22 Pearson, 45 Laurent, 52

Attendance: 43,064