The interim head coach watched Sunderland start Saturday's game at the Stadium of Light well and lead at the break thanks to Craig Gardner's second goal of the season in the fifth minute.

The home side were unfortunate not to double their lead when Emanuele Giaccherini's header was brilliantly saved by David De Gea before United battled back to win thanks to an Adnan Januzaj double, leaving Sunderland bottom of the table and still looking for their first Premier League win this season.

"(There is) a little bit of disappointment having done so well in the first half, scoring a goal, having a couple of chances," Ball told Sky Sports.

"We knew it was going to be difficult in the second half and we knew the players would have to dig deep.

"When you look at the two goals we conceded, the players and myself are very disappointed, we think they could have been prevented by a little bit of communication.

"So there's a tinge of disappointment because they've worked very hard, even towards the end we changed things round a bit but unfortunately it didn't happen for us."

And the 48-year-old knows there is still plenty of work for his side to do in order to arrest their poor run of form, even if he is not the man chosen by owner Ellis Short to take the club forward following the departure of Paolo Di Canio last month. 

"(I have) no idea (if I will get the job)," Ball added. "He (Short) came down before the game to wish us good luck but I haven't spoken to him since.

"I think they are getting fitter all the time, and at half-time I was delighted with them.

"There are a lot of standards I've spoken to them about in training, they've worked hard to do things,

"There are areas we've got to work on in terms of possession, we need to keep the ball better and going forward those are the kind of things we'll be working on."