It was the most telling sign yet of how much progress Albion have made since the start of the season.

A tight contest at the Stadium of Light was heading for a goalless stalemate with just over half-an-hour left when manager Mark McGhee made a change in an attempt to take three points instead of one.

Albert Jarrett was brought on in place of Adam El-Abd as McGhee abandoned the deployment of three central defenders and reverted to his favoured 4-4-2.

Albion ended up with nothing but McGhee's calculated gamble emphasised the faith he has in his players to defy the gloom merchants who made them certainties for relegation.

His bold substitution was not, in any case, directly responsible for the turning point of the match a few minutes later, even though Jarrett was an accomplice.

The young replacement and Dan Harding both allowed Liam Lawrence to cut inside from the right flank and unleash a fierce drive which Michel Kuipers could only parry.

Sunderland substitute Michael Bridges hit the bar from the rebound before Argentinian Julio Arca forced in his second goal of the season at the far post.

McGhee said: "I thought the game was there to be won and I knew at some stage I was going to change it to a four to see if we could start to give them a few more problems.

"We put Albert on and unfortunately when we do that we risk losing the game as well and that's what happened. Him and Dan Harding allowed the boy to come in.

"That was the most disappointing thing about the whole performance, because it's something I talk about the whole time. I told Dan at half-time to show the boy outside and when he did he never got a cross in.

"I am going to try to win games, it's the way I have always been. Sunderland won it but we could have just as easily if we had not made such a basic error. So be it."

McGhee did not share his players' doubts about the penalty decision with nine minutes left which enabled Lawrence to double the margin of Sunderland's victory.

The former Mansfield wide man was brought down by Harding, although Kuipers was not alone in indicating he had dived.

McGhee said: "It was a stonewall penalty. It was a clumsy challenge across the guy's body."

McGhee's game plan had worked well until Arca broke the deadlock. He decided the best way to cope with the absence of Adam Virgo through suspension was a switch to 3-5-2.

The three centre halves were Albion's best players. Captain Danny Cullip, returning from a four-match lay-off following hernia surgery, slotted back in as if he had never been away.

Guy Butters was as dependable as ever on his 35th birthday and Adam Hinshelwood was again outstanding.

Front pair Marcus Stewart and Stephen Elliott, the strongest element of the Sunderland side in recent weeks, barely got a kick between them.

The flip side of the coin, acknowledged by McGhee, was that Albion were impotent as an attacking force without Virgo, for whom there was no obvious replacement available.

Darren Currie did his best alongside Leon Knight but he is much more comfortable playing wide and Knight missed Virgo's robust presence.

McGhee said: "We knew it was going to be difficult for us to be a threat up front without Virgs, so we had to be patient. With Danny coming back we decided to play a different way and it worked well for us.

"I thought we played some good football and frustrated them at times but we had no real threat."

Albion did, in fact, go close to scoring on the stroke of half- time from their best move of the match. Cullip released Knight for a penetrative cross from close to the corner flag which Charlie Oatway met with a soaring header, forcing Norwegian international Thomas Myhre into his one serious save.

Sunderland were, like most of the Seagulls' opponents so far, nothing out of the ordinary. The best they can probably hope for is to make the play-offs again, based on their near-impregnable home form.

Only five teams have beaten them in 77 matches at Championship level since they moved to the Stadium of Light seven years ago, which illustrates the size of the task Albion faced without Virgo.

"We weren't embarrassed," McGhee said. "I would rather be losing in a magnificent stadium to Sunderland than drawing with Peterborough, as we did a year ago in my first game.

"With Virgs back at Derby we hope to be a bit more potent going forward. Leon needs Virgs up there. It allows us to play 4-4-2, because he keeps the ball, puts defenders under pressure and is a goal threat.

"It transforms our performances having someone like that up front."