Sunderland 0-1 Cardiff City: Mark Harris strike enough to get Bluebirds back to winning ways

Cardiff City produced a commanding display against Sunderland and bounced back from their midweek defeat by Watford to earn a 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light.

Joe Ralls missed an early penalty for Cardiff and it looked like it was going to be one of those days when nothing went in for them, but Mark Harris' second-half strike was enough to earn the Bluebirds a precious three points.

There was just one change for Cardiff heading into the match and it was an attacking one, with Sheyi Ojo brought in to play in the No.10 role instead of Andy Rinomhota.

It meant Cardiff started a game for the first time with a front four of Mark Harris, Sheyi Ojo, Jaden Philogene and Callum O'Dowda and, it must be said, they shot out of the traps and dominated the early chances.

The Bluebirds were all over the opposition and carved out a number of early chances, including an excellent breakaway move which saw Mark Harris slot in Ojo for a 1v1 chance, which was deflected wide. In truth, it should have been the opening goal.

But Sunderland were to ride their luck again in the 12th minute, when Danny Batth hauled down Philogene six yards from goal to prevent him from tapping in. Andy Davies pointed to the spot and brandished the yellow card, but the blue-shirt-wearing contingent inside the ground rightly questioned why the colour of the card wasn't red.

Either way, it was a golden opportunity for City to take the lead, but Joe Ralls' well-struck penalty was a nice height for Anthony Patterson, who dived to his left and parried away.

Every so often the Black Cats would produce a moment to make you sit up and take notice, like when Amad Diallo beat Ryan Wintle and hit a shot towards the bottom corner, only to see Perry Ng scrambling to get it away