Cardiff City 0-1 Sunderland: Dennis Cirkin keeps Black Cats play-off hopes alive

Dennis Cirkin's third goal of the season earned Sunderland a 1-0 win over Cardiff to move them to within four points of the play-off places.

Cirkin had the simple task of tapping in from two yards out after a free-kick from Alex Pritchard had come back off the post. A second successive home defeat for Cardiff keeps them in the relegation picture in 21st.

Having seen relegation rivals Huddersfield fail to hold onto a 2-0 lead at home against Blackburn, ending up with a point from a 2-2 draw in the end, Cardiff hoped to use their home advantage to go back above them.

For Sunderland, it was a case of trying to get back to winning ways after three successive draws and only one win in their last nine league outings. Tony Mowbray made four changes from the side that drew 4-4 with Hull on Good Friday.

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The wind played havoc with the pre-match planning and Bluebirds boss Sabri Lamouchi used four substitutes by the 61st minute. Such was his displeasure at the way things were going he hauled off Jaden Philogene and Sheyi Ojo after only 36 minutes to change the shape of his side.

Sunderland were the more fluent team throughout and thought they had taken the lead in the 37th minute when Jack Clarke headed home a cross from the right edge of the box by Pritchard. The linesman's flag saved Cardiff on that occasion as it was ruled out for offside.

The only effort on target from the home side came four minutes later when Sory Kaba rose in the six-yard box to head down and force Anthony Patterson into a low save in the middle of his goal.

Lamouchi made his third change at the start of the second half when he hooked ex-Sunderland striker Connor Wickham and introduced Kion Etete. That added more frontline threat and Etete forced Patterson into a save with a shot from an acute angle in the Sunderland box.

Having weathered an early storm at the start of the second half, Sunderland used the silky skills of Manchester United loan star Amad Diallo to make headway up the right flank. Then they struck in the 61st minute with a goal from a free-kick to finally break the deadlock.

Home right-back Perry Ng picked up a yellow card for a tackle on Clarke and that gave Pritchard the chance to take aim from the left edge of the box. He rifled his shot through the flimsy wall, it hit the left-hand upright and rebounded to give Cirkin the easiest of tap-ins as he followed up.

There was nothing home goalkeeper Ryan Allsop could do after diving full-length to try to stop the shot and he was furious with his defenders for letting the shot get through his defensive wall. The Bluebirds could find no response as they slipped to defeat.

The managers

Cardiff's Sabri Lamouchi:

"When you are losing you are always disappointed, but I'm more disappointed about the first half. The second was a little bit better. We can't concede a goal in the second half like that. We cannot start the game in this way - there was a bad attitude in the first half and it was a bad performance. We made some changes and probably we could have made some more.

"We cannot concede a goal in this way, with the ball going through men in the wall after giving away a stupid foul. We were probably a little bit better in the second half, good enough to create two or three chances to score, but we didn't score. We didn't deserve more than we got."

Sunderland's Tony Mowbray:

"We lacked a bit of a cutting edge and ruthlessness in the box. Someone who makes their living from scoring goals is probably what is missing. We knew they had physicality in their team and they are fighting for their lives and I was happy with the way we saw things out. You could see Cardiff's spirit and togetherness.

"I would think, with the backing of their support, they will find enough to get some wins between now and the end of the season. When you look at our fixtures on paper, if we are at our best at home against Birmingham City on Saturday we can win. At home against Huddersfield on Tuesday, despite the really good run Neil (Warnock) has got them on, we could win. If we can make it nine points from this game and the next two, we won't be far off it."

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