Brian Clough always gave new managers one piece of advice. The gist of it was: “You’re at your strongest in your first three months in charge. Get all the unpleasant stuff done and dusted straight away. Then you can start to build on it.”

Much to his regret, Clough never managed Sunderland, but he took an almost paternal interest in the most beloved of his former clubs. And if old Big ’Ead were still among us, he’d be concerned that Sunderland, despite recent improvements, aren’t clear of relegation’s dark shadow. For Ricky Sbragia has just passed his own three-month mark, and yesterday he chalked up 100 days in the role that was suddenly thrust upon him early last December.

While Sbragia has tried to shape and style Sunderland, lifting them from the Premier League precipice to the safer middle ground of the table, the frustrations continue for him. With the bottom of the table so cluttered, he can’t relax yet.

Sunderland didn’t so much succumb to Wigan Athletic as allow them to stroll off with the points. While conditions were hardly ideal — a gusty, cold wind swept across the Stadium of Light and played occasional tricks with the flight of the ball — they didn’t mitigate Sunderland’s guilt or their scrappy lack of form.

Ben Watson could scarcely believe their generosity towards him after only 12 minutes. As the ball was blown around the periphery of the area he fastened on to it with comparative ease and drove his 20-yard shot beyond Marton Fulop. Although Watson finished crisply, the goal qualified as a gift, nonetheless. Tal Ben Haim ought to have cleared it promptly. Worse followed for him.

In first-half stoppage time, Charles N’Zogbia ran from six yards inside his own half, slipping past one lunge before holding off Ben Haim, who tracked back on his shoulder without making an intimidating challenge. As Fulop came out, N’Zogbia merely clipped the ball beneath him.

The lapse rubbed out the equaliser that Sunderland had claimed four minutes earlier. Wigan failed to clear Fulop’s long, high kick. The ball fell for Grant Leadbitter, who shook off an insipid tackle from Maynor Figueroa before rolling in his effort.

With a game based mostly on perspiration rather than inspiration, Sunderland lacked the ingenuity and subtle craft to make Wigan flinch. The Djibril Cisse-Kenwyne Jones combination had no bite to accompany their bark and Emmerson Boyce and Titus Bramble were able to shackle them without much fuss.

“We were excellent at the back,” said Steve Bruce, the Wigan manager. “The longer it went on, the more comfortable we became.”

As the game wore on, Sunderland’s crowd became edgy and impatient. Predictable and raucous booing filled the spring air at the end.

Sbragia now has to hold his nerve. He concedes that Sunderland’s scrambling pursuit of points has meant sacrificing aesthetic grace and is talking about being more positive and pleasing to watch. That sentiment perfectly chimes with another slice of Clough’s doctrine. “We’re in the entertainment business,” he’d say. “Don’t bore the arse off people.”

It’s a good tip. But Sunderland might be better off in the short term focusing on the basics before adding any fancy trimmings.

Star man: Titus Bramble (Wigan)

Yellow cards: Wigan: Brown.

Referee: M Dean.

Attendance: 39,266.

Sunderland: Fulop 7, Bardsley 7, Ben Haim 6 (Healy 77min), Collins 7, McCartney 7, Leadbitter 7, Whitehead 7, Reid 7 (Murphy 61 6), Malbranque 7 (Edwards 64 6), Cisse 6, Jones 6.

Wigan: Kirkland 7, Melchiot 7, Boyce 7, Bramble 8, Figueroa 7, Valencia 7, Watson 7, Scharner 7, Brown 7, N’Zogbia 7, Mido 7 (Zaki 83min).