Sunderland midfielder Pierre Ekwah has vowed the players will fight until the very end of the campaign in their quest to finish in the top-six.

The Black Cats were beaten play-off semi-finalists last season and had hoped to repeat that feat again this season.

However, after four defeats on the bounce the Wearsiders sit nine points adrift of the top-six, the same amount of points away from the bottom three.

While the performance at Carrow Road was not a damning display, the defeat leaves them with a mountain to climb heading into the final 11 games of the season.

"Yeah we had a tough one but we played good," Ekwah told Sunderland after the defeat to Norwich. "We had some really good spells in the game so it's a tough one to take because it's only a 1-0 defeat.

"We've got a really good team and we've got people missing, but we've still got a really good team to compete against anyone. We showed it this afternoon. It's a difficult one to take because it was 1-0.

"We definitely matched them and it was a good game but we didn't come out on top and it was a difficult one to take.

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"The gaffer just said in the changing room that we can't away from what we've been doing. Obviously the result - we haven't been coming out on top lately but I'm sure if we keep going in the same way, getting better in little bits in pieces on different parts of the pitch, we've definitely got a chance to do what we want to do.

"We need to recover mentally and physically and go again because it's going to be a tough one [against Leicester City]. We're definitely ready for that. 

"We're going to fight for them [the supporters] until the end, that's for sure."