Tony Mowbray admitted he was relieved when Dennis Cirkin made the breakthrough at Cardiff City after fearing Sunderland's lack of cutting edge could cost them. The Black Cats had dominated a one-sided first half at the Cardiff City Stadium but had no goals to show for their efforts.
But all that changed on the hour when a free-kick from Alex Pritchard was kept out by a combination of post and goalkeeper Ryan Allsop, and defender Cirkin reacted first to apply the finish from close range. And while Sunderland deserved to win by a wider margin, that single goal proved to be enough to secure all three points as the Black Cats defended doggedly in the latter stages to keep a clean sheet against the relegation strugglers.
"We moved the ball around the pitch but we just lacked a bit of cutting edge - a bit of ruthlessness in the box, really, somebody who makes their living from scoring goals is probably what's missing at the moment," said Mowbray of that first half performance. "We knew we'd have to move the ball well because they have some physicality in their team, they're fighting for their lives and we knew they'd be pretty direct into their strikers.
