Regis Le Bris believes his Sunderland players will learn from conceding late goals even though he admitted, “it is a problem because we’ve lost many points.”

The Black Cats boss takes his side into battle against Sheffield United tonight (8pm), at the Stadium of Light hoping to move on from the 1-0 defeat at Stoke City when they conceded a goal two minutes into stoppage time.

The campaign has been littered with Sunderland conceding late goals and it has undermined their points tally and league position as they could be much better off than the fourth place they currently occupy.

READ MORE: Sunderland get injury boost but Chris Rigg absence set to continue

READ MORE: Sunderland told what they must do to land ex-Leeds United and Rangers star

In a congested Championship every point gained is a useful one and Le Bris admits it’s difficult to put the issue of conceding late goals down to one thing.

“Football is unpredictable and it’s always different,” said the head coach. “Probably right now it’s difficult to find a common pattern with all the goals we conceded in these parts of the games.

“The only point is the improvement of the team and players and you can expect with time we can improve that situation.

“We made these mistakes during this game and probably it’s connected because of a repetition of games,

“We will always be focused on our performance and we can watch the other teams and sometimes they can make these mistakes as well.

“So the question now is to stay consistent because we can understand that players with fatigue are more vulnerable to making more mistakes because of issues, because of concentration, because of tiredness.

“It’s the case that we have to assume that part because it’s tough for them. I can’t really blame these players because they are doing their best. They are always connected, they try to push until the limit but they are humans and not machines. We have to assume it is possible to make mistakes.

“We can learn from games, when you are disappointed after a game you know you have another opportunity two days after to come back and change the dynamic so what you gain on one side you lose on the other, it’s always like that. It’s more difficult to improve and analyse when you are just playing games but on the pitch we can work on specific areas. It’s the case for everyone.

Sunderland had chances to score in the game and gave away that late goal when Luke O’Nien took a poor touch and was robbed of the ball. Then Chris Mepham was unable to win his challenge but even so, Tom Cannon’s strike was a good one.

Eliezer Mayenda made a horrible mess of a free header from six yards late on and Le Bris defended his players when he said: “We have to assume they will make mistakes because they are a young team and we have to assume it is more difficult. Maybe the last game wasn't so good but we have to support them. It’s always like that.

“We had two different halves. I think we deserved to win and we were frustrated at the end because we created many chances. They then scored a late goal to win the game.

“The experience was useful for this game [Sheffield United] which will be a totally different scenario because it’s always different but we will have this in the background and it will be useful I think.”

Meanwhile, the Blades will continue without three influential players for the clash against Le Bris’ side tonight.

Boss Chris Wilder has confirmed he will still be without top scorer Tyrese Campbell, first-choice winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and player of the year so far Vini Souza, whose return from a hamstring injury lasted just 45 minutes on Boxing Day before he was replaced.

With Oliver Arblaster and loan star Harry Souttar both out for the season, and right-back Femi Seriki also missing recently with a calf complaint, Wilder’s patched-up Blades are limping towards the opening of the transfer window.