There is a fairytale about a man who is given three wishes but wastes them. When Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager, said “someone needs to give me a word other than disappointment, I’m sick of hearing it”, it has to be hoped that his fairy godmother was not listening. Hodgson needs so much; a thesaurus, though, is not so high on the list.

Even without three wishes, Fulham can stay up. Really, they can. All they have to do is perform with more discipline and more guts. The fixture list is just about perfect. Reading are struggling, Liverpool will probably bring their reserves, Manchester City are coasting, Birmingham City are nervous and Portsmouth have the distraction of an FA Cup Final. Somehow Hodgson has to convince his players that survival is theirs for the taking.

On Saturday, though, there was little evidence they have the heart for a war. “I think the players have hit the wall a little bit,” Hodgson said. “They have been battling every week without a great deal of joy or success.” Perhaps Hodgson needs to rethink what he means by battling. If he hoped that Fulham could stay up using only neat passing, he was wrong.

Sunderland took the lead through Danny Collins shortly before half-time and made it 2-0 early in the second half with the sort of goal Fulham never attempted to score. Kenwyne Jones won the long ball and flicked it on to Michael Chopra while Hodgson’s defence melted away. A touch of individual brilliance from David Healy raised Fulham’s hopes, but Sunderland, ever flexible and adaptable, got a third goal, an easy shot on the turn for Jones.

The Fulham supporters appear to have entered a state beyond grief and beyond anger. Even the jeers at the final whistle were half-hearted. “I’ve got to say I’m fairly low myself,” Hodgson said. “I didn’t come into this game thinking we were going to lose it. Nothing certainly in the first 30 or 40 minutes of the game gave me the impression that I was going to be standing here with tears in my eyes.”

It does not help when your opponents, who were early-season favourites for the drop, are thinking about how to spend their money next season. Roy Keane, the Sunderland manager, hopes that his board shares his ambition. “If we are in the Premier League next season we will be in a better position to bring in a certain type of player to take the club to the next level,” Keane said. “We want to improve all levels of the club. You can’t relax or pat yourself on the back. That’s for others to do.”

The opposite is true at Fulham; they need a slap across the face and have to do it themselves.

Fulham (4-4-2): K Keller 6 – P Stalteri 5 (sub: C Dempsey, 62min 5) A Hughes 4, B Hangeland 4, P Konchesky 5 – S Davies 5, J Bullard 5, D Murphy 5, L Andreasen 4, (sub: D Healy, 57 7) – B McBride 4, D Kamara 4 (sub: H Bouazza, 72 4). Substitutes not used: A Warner, C Bocanegra. Booked: Andreasen. Next: Reading (a).

Sunderland (4-4-2): C Gordon 6 – P Bardsley 5, N Nosworthy 7, J Evans 6, D Collins 6 – C Edwards 5 (sub: M Chopra, 46 6), D Whitehead 7, A Reid 6, K Richardson 5 (sub: G Leadbitter, 58 6) – D Murphy 7 (sub: R O’Donovan, 87), K Jones 7. Substitutes not used: M Fulop, D Higginbotham. Next: Manchester City (h).