Cardiff City 0-2 Sunderland: Dismal Bluebirds slump to back-to-back defeats

Cardiff City failed to banish their South Wales derby blues, after slumping to a desperately poor defeat at the hands of Sunderland at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Adil Aouchiche fired the visitors in front from the spot after Dimitrios Goutas was penalised for a foul on Jobe Bellingham, who then poked home a second from close range.

Defeat halts a run of three straight home wins for City, who aside from a Nathaniel Phillips header in the first half, failed to really test Anthony Patterson in the Sunderland goal.

Dimitrios Goutas did see a header of his own kiss the crossbar, but any late success in front of goal would have only papered over the cracks of a worryingly disjointed performance from the hosts, who stay 11th after this defeat.

This stadium was obviously the sight of grave trauma for Welsh football earlier in the week, following the agonising penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Poland.

This was always going to be a very different occasion, although Cardiff supporters have had their own pain to deal with, after watching their team revert to type on derby day with a rancid showing against Swansea City before the international break. The significance of that stinging defeat perhaps feels deeper than the loss of the bragging rights wrestled back earlier in the season.

Despite their previous good run of form, the perception in recent weeks has been that Cardiff's season has drifted following a reasonably promising start. Indeed, the smash-and-grab win over the Black Cats in September was part of an impressive streak of five wins in six games that had sparked some suggestions of an outside chance of the play-offs. That all feels a long way away now.

Cardiff boss Erol Bulut was keen to stress the importance of