English League, Championship/Sunderland 2 Plymouth Argyle 3: "Ha-a-a-ve you ever seen the sun?" Midway through the first half of an optimism-shredding Sunderland performance on an achingly cold afternoon on Wearside, this was the chant from Plymouth Argyle supporters. The response was what one would expect of people who seem to have been frozen in a wintertime of unfulfilled expectations: silence.
Sunderland as a collective have become so used to losing they are almost numb. The danger is that the lack of feeling will spread to the only man offering warmth, Niall Quinn.
Quinn is one of those individuals for whom the glass is always half-full. Yet, on Saturday evening, as he contemplated a third straight defeat and a display that promised so little, even Quinn looked empty.
He flew home to Ireland to see his family because as well as being chairman and manager of Sunderland, he is also a husband and a father.
Fortunately, Quinn found some solace in Tipperary, some space and time to swiftly rekindle the enthusiasm that made him put his local-hero reputation and his money - he is also a cash investor in this enterprise - on the line.
It felt premature to be thinking otherwise on Saturday, yet so bad was the display it was unavoidable.
Bar 10 minutes in the second half when the crowd roared and Sunderland came to life, it was, as Quinn said, "awful".
Just as Sunderland were getting on top, another error, another defeat and suddenly in the space of a week a man drowning in goodwill stood alone by the tunnel as a couple of Wearside voices shouted abuse. The rest trudged away, heads bowed, Lowry-like.
Now that "gremlin" which Quinn spoke of afterwards - "the something in the air around the club" - has to be beaten down. He has done it before: Quinn was not always popular as a player and was once spat at by a Sunderland fan as he left Roker Park. But he then had only himself to lift. Now he has a team, a board, a club and a region to galvanise. It is, he said, "a serious situation".
But Quinn is defiant. He knows that it is all too much for one man, that the club's biggest names need to be on the pitch, not in the dug-out, and that three defeats in a week have made the already difficult task of attracting players all the more tricky.
But of Kevin Phillips there should be an answer from Aston Villa today, while there is interest in a left-wing alternative to Andy Reid.
Yet changes are needed fast: Quinn has taken ownership of the club, now he must take ownership of the team.
Beginning at Southend on Saturday, three of the next four fixtures are away - trips to Derby County and Leeds United follow - with the home game being against a West Bromwich Albion side that has more talent on paper and, just as importantly, has not had its self-confidence battered.
Quinn could not have shown his club more respect in trying to get the right manager, but the delays caused by the process and the previous regime's stalling mean that Sunderland are playing catch-up. Already they are seven points behind Plymouth.
Argyle's new manager, Ian Holloway, was thrilled by this win and identified a quality that Quinn loves: "spirit - and you can't always buy that".
Spirit saw Plymouth equalise Daryl Murphy's 26-second opener just over seven minutes later. David Norris failed to make the grade at Bolton Wanderers but he has been a sure-footed presence at Plymouth for four seasons and made it 1-1 with an accomplished volley.
Sunderland's response was one good pass followed by two bad ones. They managed to scramble a 30th-minute chance for Danny Collins - which was missed - and nine minutes later a mix-up between Kenny Cunningham and Ben Alnwick gifted Plymouth's Barry Hayles a shot, Collins heading the goalbound effort across the line.
After Quinn withdrew his wide midfielders, Liam Lawrence and Tommy Miller, Sunderland had their one bright spell, Stephen Elliott partially redeeming his afternoon by nodding in Murphy's cross.
Now the biggest crowd in England made the sort of noise that so stirs Quinn, and Chris Brown and Grant Leadbitter were both close to making it 3-2.
Instead came a Plymouth hoof and a Collins hesitation, and Nick Chadwick showed composure to grab the points for Plymouth.
"I wish Niall all the very best," said Holloway afterwards.
"Good luck to him and all I'd say to the Black Cats is stick with the team. Because you are nothing without support - when you need it. I know it's hard, but that's when your team needs you."
SUNDERLAND: Alnwick, Delap, Cunningham, Clarke (Wright 20 mins), Danny Collins, Lawrence (Stead 58 mins), Whitehead, Leadbitter, Miller (Brown 63 mins), Elliott, Murphy. Subs Not Used: Ward, Neill Collins. Goals: Murphy 1, Stephen Elliott 67.
PLYMOUTH: McCormick, Connolly, Doumbe, Aljofree, Capaldi, Norris, Wotton, Summerfield (Buzsaky 72 mins), Hodges, Hayles, Ebanks-Blake (Chadwick 71 mins). Subs Not Used: Sawyer, Reid, Djordjic. Goals: Norris 8, Hayles 39, Chadwick 82. Att: 24,377.
Referee: R Olivier (W Midlands)
