Sunderland moved into the Championship top ten as Dennis Cirkin's goal gave them victory at Cardiff City. Cirkin was back in the starting XI for the first time since recovering from the after-effects of concussion he suffered in February, and he marked the occasion by scoring on the hour in South Wales.
Sunderland should probably have won by a greater margin, but their defence stood firm to keep a clean sheet and that meant the single goal was enough. The win saw Sunderland move up to tenth in the table, and cut the gap between themselves and the play-off spots to four points with five games of the season remaining.
And, with back-to-back home games against Birmingham City and then Huddersfield Town coming up, Tony Mowbray's men have the chance to apply more pressure on the top six.
