CITY must put the disappointment of losing 3-0 to Sunderland quickly behind them says manager Alex Neil.

The Canaries missed the opportunity to put some breathing space between themselves and the bottom three in the Premier League on a disappointing afternoon at Carrow Road.

Fabio Borini's first half penalty was followed by strikes from Jermain Defoe and Duncan Watmore, leaving the Canaries with just four remaining games to notch the points required for survival.

Speaking post-match, Neil says he retains faith in his group of players despite the nature of Saturday's defeat.

"I still believe we've got enough quality players to go and make a difference," he told Norwich City TV.

"It's a sickener today, it's a really tough one to take. I never thought it was a 3-0 game, but the bottom line is we lost.

"We need to dust ourselves down from it and what we've got bear in mind is that we're still a point ahead, but if we're going to do it it's going to be the hard way."

City had moments in the opening period but we dealt a blow four minutes before half-time when Andre Wisdom was adjudged to have fouled Borini in the box.

"The penalty I thought was debatable," reflected Neil. "I thought Andre caught the ball and then caught the player afterwards, it's one where sometimes you get them and sometimes you don't.

"For the second goal, Seb (Bassong) arguably could have moved the ball quicker but the lad fouls him and they break away and score from it.

"I think he was fouled, but there were two decisions from us - did we need to make the tackle for the penalty, and could we have moved the ball a bit quicker?

"At this stage, performances don't matter. It's about winning and losing, and we lost the game."

Neil insists focus must be on their own results in the run-in, with the next action coming in a fortnight's time when they take on Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

"You create your own momentum. We did it for two games when we managed to win, and we've to do it again. It's as simple as that," he added.

"We need to win games to keep us in the league. We didn't win today, which was a huge opportunity for us. It was a big blow, but we have to be focused for the remaining games.

"Hopefully this break will do us a bit of good and obviously we've got four games to focus on now and that's the story of our season."

ALEX NEIL: A TOUGH ONE TO TAKE

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